Matthias Stomer

Anonymous sale ("Property Sold by the Order of Ethel Griffin, Public Administrator, County of New York"), New York, Doyle, January 25, 1989, lot 68 (as attributed to Stomer);
With Joan Michelman, New York;
From whom purchased by the present owner in 2003.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has not been recently restored and would benefit from a fresh approach to conservation. The canvas has a lining which although securing the paint layer, is not sufficiently reducing the cracking which is quite visible and if the cracking were to be more relaxed, the painting would be more effective. The restorations have not been well applied and are clearly visible to the naked eye in the back of the shirt sleeve in the lower right, along the bottom edge also in the sleeve, above and through the bow of the fiddle and in a few other isolated spots in the background. The figure itself is generally devoid of any major retouches, apart from beneath the right eye and above the left eye and generally the condition of the figure is very good. If the paint layer were to be cleaned and the lining reexamined, the condition would improve quite dramatically.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Young Man with a Fiddle is one of the few instances in which Stomer painted a single musician.  The light color scheme and cool tonalities so evident in the present composition are typical of Stomer's output between circa 1633-1640, when the artist was working in Naples.  Indeed, as Slatkes pointed out when he examined the present picture, in both execution and palette this work is reminiscent of Stomer's Young Christ and the Doctors (now, Detroit Institute of Arts, on loan from a private collection)¹ which Slatkes also dates to the artist's Neapolitan period.  The similarities between the physiognomy of the fiddler in the present painting and that of the young Christ in Christ and the Doctors would suggest that the artist may have even used the same model in both compositions.² 

1.  See, B. Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe, Turin 1989, vol. 1, p. 182 (listed with an asterisk).  This picture was sold, London, Sotheby's, July 5, 1989, lot 7.
2.  Private correspondence from Leonard Slatkes, dated March 28, 2003.