- 151
Ludolf Backhuysen
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
- Ludolf Backhuysen
- A portrait of Jan van Broeckhuizen with ships in the background
- signed lower left with initials on the parapet: LB
- oil on canvas
Provenance
Jan van Broeckhuizen, the sitter;
By whom bequeathed to Pieter Burman the Elder (1668-1741), Utrecht, in 1707;
By descent to Pieter Burman the Younger (1713-1778), Amsterdam;
His deceased sale, Amsterdam, Luchtmans, 16 October 1779 where acquired by Jan Ekels;
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 15 December 1982, lot 137 where acquired by the husband of the present owner.
Literature
J. van Broeckhuizen, Gedichten, 1712, pg. 54;
E. W. Moes, Iconographia Batava, vol. I, 1897, no. 1136, 1;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné..., Vol. VII, London 1923, no. 53;
G. de Beer, Ludolf Backhuysen. Sein Leben und Werk, Zwolle 2002, pp. 26, 85 (and n236, p. 253).
Catalogue Note
Jan van Broeckhuizen (1649-1707), was poet and later captain in the service of the States General, and a close friend of Backhuysen. He eulogized many of Backhuysen's pictures, and wrote a set of fourteen verses of Latin elegaics dedicated to the artist, who in turn praised Broeckhuizen in verse. This portrait was eulogised in verse by H. Angelot in van Broeckhuizen's book of poetry published, after the latter's death, in Amsterdam in 1712, when it belonged to Pieter Burman in Utrecht. A drawn portrait by Backhuysen of van Broeckhuizen is in the British Museum, inv. no. 1836.8.11.28.1 Manuscript verses by Backhuysen addressed to Broeckhuizen, signed and dated 1 Augusti 1692, are also kept in the British Museum.2
In Jan ("Joan") van Broeckhuizen's Testament of 26 March 1705, this portrait is to be bequeathed to Pieter Burman ("Petrus Burmannus, Professor in Utrecht"); it is described as: "portrait door Bakhuis geschildert." , and as one of Backhuysen's smallest scale portraits.3 It was bought in the Burman sale in 1779 by Jan Ekels, one of the most talented Dutch painters and draftsmen of the 18th Century. Since the only recorded copy of Ekels' posthumous sale in Amsterdam (van der Schley), 25 July 1793 was destroyed in Darmstasdt in 1944, it is not possible to ascertain if it was still in his possession then.
1. See A.M. Hind, Catalogue of Drawings by Dutch and Flemish Artists ... British Museum, London 1926, vol. III, p. 12, no. 3, reproduced plate VIII.
2. Idem, p. 12, no. 3a
3. See de Beer under Literature, p. 26.
In Jan ("Joan") van Broeckhuizen's Testament of 26 March 1705, this portrait is to be bequeathed to Pieter Burman ("Petrus Burmannus, Professor in Utrecht"); it is described as: "portrait door Bakhuis geschildert." , and as one of Backhuysen's smallest scale portraits.3 It was bought in the Burman sale in 1779 by Jan Ekels, one of the most talented Dutch painters and draftsmen of the 18th Century. Since the only recorded copy of Ekels' posthumous sale in Amsterdam (van der Schley), 25 July 1793 was destroyed in Darmstasdt in 1944, it is not possible to ascertain if it was still in his possession then.
1. See A.M. Hind, Catalogue of Drawings by Dutch and Flemish Artists ... British Museum, London 1926, vol. III, p. 12, no. 3, reproduced plate VIII.
2. Idem, p. 12, no. 3a
3. See de Beer under Literature, p. 26.