Old Master Drawings

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Lot 69
  • 69

Cornelis Visscher

Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 USD
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Description

  • Cornelis Visscher
  • portrait of a seated woman holding a fan
  • Black chalk within brown ink framing lines, on vellum;
    signed in black chalk on back of chair: C de. Visscher fc.;
    bears faint gray wash numbering, lower left of verso: f2290-

Provenance

Sale, Amsterdam, F. Muller, 15 June 1926, lot 469, reproduced (with pendant);
A.W.M. Mensing, sale, Amsterdam, F. Muller, 29 April 1937, lot 784 (with pendant);
J.T. Cremer (according to Schaeffer Galleries label);
With Bernard Houthakker, Amsterdam (Master Drawings, 1966, no.56);
Norton Simon,
Sale, London, Sotheby's, 27 June 1974, lot 121 (the pendant sold as lot 122);
with Schaeffer Galleries, New York, their label on reverse of frame 

Literature

B. Broos and M. Schapelhouman, Oude tekeningen in het bezit van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum... nederlandse Tekenaars geboren tussen 1600 en 1660, Amsterdam/Zwolle 1993, pp. 206-7, under cat. no. 162 (reproduced, as a copy after Visscher)

Condition

Three small ink-type spot stains in lower right corner, but otherwise condition is excellent, the chalk strong. Sold framed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

The identity of the sitter in this characteristically refined portrait by Visscher remains unknown.  Until the 1974 sale, she remained in the company of a male portrait, another version of which, in the Rijksmuseum, has sometimes been identified as representing the preacher Hermanus Langelius, but since he remained unmarried and these drawings give a strong impression of showing a husband and wife couple, the identification is probably erroneous.1

Another version of this drawing is in the Amsterdams Historisch Museum.  In his catalogue entry on that drawing, Ben Broos mentions the present work as a copy of the museum's portrait, and reproduces it using an old photograph.  The harshness and crudity that he understandably describes in that photograph are not, however apparent in the drawing itself, and to judge from the reproduction, the present drawing seems to have at least as much of Visscher's characteristic subtlety and refinement as the Amsterdam version. 

1.  See Broos and Schapelhouman, loc. cit.