Lot 117
  • 117

Jan van der Vaart

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 GBP
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Description

  • Jan van der Vaart
  • Portrait of a violin
  • oil on canvas

Provenance

Acquired by the present owners at the Pan art fair in Amsterdam in 2009.

Literature

S. Nijstad, De viool hing in Haarlem, The Hague, 2010, reproduced on the cover.

Condition

The canvas has a firm relining which has somewhat pressed the paint surface which is otherwise in good condition and secure under a yellowed varnish. Inspection under UV light reveals numerous scattered retouchings throughout but this work has been sensitively and unobtrusively carried out. Offered in a gilt wood and plaster frame in fair condition.
"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

Jan van der Vaart was a pupil of Thomas Wyck in Haarlem, but travelled to Naples, and to England, where he worked in London for several years, before returning to his native Haarlem, where he died in 1677.  Van der Vaart followed his teacher to London, and both worked under Willem Wissing, Court Painter to Charles II.  Van der Vaart worked for the Duke of Devonshire, and a very similar painting of a violin, depicted trompe l'oeil hanging on a feigned door, is now at Chatsworth (see fig. 1). In his Anecdotes of Painting, Horace Walpole (1717-1797) notes that Van der Vaart had painted in Old Devonshire House in London "a violin against a door that deceived everybody".Despite the house burning down in 1733 the painting was saved and moved to its present home at Chatsworth. It was recorded in the 1764 inventory in the Bedchamber at the foot of the Back Stairs inset into a cupboard; in 1836 it was installed by the 6th Duke of Devonshire in a State Drawing Room, possibly renamed the State Music Room in its honour, where it remains today inserted into a door.

Saam Nijstad speculated that the instruments portrayed may have been made by Hendrik Jacobsz. (1629-1699).2

Violins and viols are quite often included in Dutch 17th Century paintings, hanging on a wall, with the bow clamped between the strings and resting on a steep diagonal.  The most famous example of this is probably Judith Leyster's Young Fluteplayer in Stockholm, National Museum.3

We are most grateful to Charles Noble, Curator of Fine Arts of the Devonshire Collection, for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.


1.  H. Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting, 1762-1771, vol. II, p. 248.
2.  See S. Nijstad, De viool hing in Haarlem,  p. 3.
3.  Idem, p. 5, reproduced fig. 4.