Lot 235
  • 235

Cesar Boetius van Everdingen

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 GBP
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Description

  • Cesar Boetius van Everdingen
  • A peasant woman wearing a black hat, leaning on a wooden ledge
  • oil on canvas, oval

Provenance

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's Olympia, 9 July 2002, lot 438.

Condition

The colours are less contrasted than the catalogue illustration suggests. The canvas has recently been crudely restretched, given a wax relining, cleaned and restored. It is not possible to determine from this whether the canvas was originally of oval format, but this is quite possibly not the case. The paint surface has not been flattened by the lining and remains in quite good overall condition. Inspection under ultra violet light reveals extensive careful retouching. The only large damages are a repaired tear of 4 x 4 cm on the left shoulder and another damage of 2 x 4 cm on the top of the hat, but there has been quite quite substantial retouching to many parts of the canvas, notably the bottom of the sleeve, the hair, the eyes and nose, the hat, and to the folds and shadows of the drapery and much of the background, especially on the right hand side. The restoration has been carefully carried out and is not obtrusive to the naked eye. The varnish is clear and even. Offered with a later giltwood frame with egg and dart and oak leaf moulding, in reasonable state, uneven and therefore probably reduced to fit.
"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

This attractive and unusual painting provides a hitherto unrecorded and unpublished addition to the oeuvre of Cesar van Everdingen. 

More an imaginative tronie than a portrait, the sitter is dressed in a particular form of costume, and the unusual hat is perhaps inspired by Everdingen's possible trip to France between 1645-46. The provocative position of the woman leaning over and against the ledge is reminiscent of Everdingen's early work of a Woman Combing her Hair dated circa 1650, in a private collection, Paris.1

We are grateful to Paul Huys Janssen and Albert Blankert for endorsing the attribution to Everdingen after first hand inspection. Dr. Huys Janssen dates the painting to circa 1650-55, and suggests it may have been intended as a chimney or ceiling painting which would account for the odd angle of the figure.  He compares it to Everdingen's other depictions of half naked female figures in fanciful dress such as the signed Young Woman Playing a Cithern in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen.2

1. P. Huys Janssen Ceasar van Everdingen,  Doornspijk 2002, p. 115, no. 55, reproduced plate 21.
2. Ibid., p. 118, no. 58, reproduced plate 2.