Jan Jansz. van de Velde

According to an inscription on the reverse of the panel bought in Copenhagen on 14 March 1914 by or from "HVM";
By family tradition in the Moltke collection, Denmark, but not in the F.C. Moltke sale in 1931;
Acquired in Copenhagen in circa 1931 by Generalconsul Hjalmar Hartmann (1870-1945) Svanemollevej 17  Hellerup;
Thence by descent to the present owner.

P. Gammelbo, Dutch Still-life Painting from the 16th-18th Century in Danish Collections, Leigh-on-Sea 1960, p. 58, no. 65, reproduced.

Structural Condition The panel is providing an even structural support. There is a very thin vertical crack in the panel running up from the lower horizontal edge in the lower right of the composition which appears to be secure. Paint Surface The paint surface has a very discoloured varnish layer and should respond extremely well to cleaning and revarnishing. There is minor abrasion of the paint at the framing edges, two tiny paint losses in the background in the upper left of the composition above the plate and a tiny paint loss left of the tablecloth in the lower left of the composition. Inspection under ultra violet light confirms how discoloured the varnish layers have become and shows only very small spots and lines of inpainting including some minor retouched abrasions on and around the glass in the upper right of the composition, a few tiny spots along the vertical crack and some tiny spots in the table cloth. There are two areas of what would appear to be retouching. These are both in the background, one is by the right vertical framing edge and the other is between the table top and the left vertical framing edge. These retouchings are also discoloured and clearly visible in natural light. There may be other retouchings which are not visible under ultra violet light but I could find no evidence of these. Summary The painting would appear to be in very good condition with the potential to be transformed by cleaning and revarnishing.
"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."

This is an early work by Van de Velde.  In comparison with the earliest, a still life with fruit dated 1639 in Lvov, it shows that he had by the beginning of the 1640s reached his full maturity – the present work and other early pictures are remarkably similar in composition to works dating through to the late 1650s.¹  The form of the signature, in capital letters, is only found in works from the first half of the 1640s, however, and the date can clearly by read as 1641.  The use of an almost square panel – the present one has original bevels on all four edges of the reverse - is also characteristic of Van de Velde, and is found in other works from 1647 until 1655.²

Jan van de Velde's compositions are typically sparser than those of his fellow Haarlem monochrome banketje painters, Pieter Claesz. and Willem Claesz. Heda.  As we see here, he is not afraid to leave large areas of subtly textured but empty neutral background, which serve to concentrate the eye on the very simply arrayed objects that comprise his subject. 

1.   See N.R.A. Vroom, A Modest Message as intimated by the painters of the `Monochrome Banketje', Schiedam 1980, vol, 2, p. 131, no. 675, reproduced.
2.   Idem, vol. 2, p. 131, no. 678, reproduced (1647), p. 133, no. 688, reproduced vol. 1, p. 225, no. 304 (1653), p. 133, no. 691, reproduced (1655).