Lot 562
  • 562

Karel van Mander the Elder

Estimate
80,000 - 120,000 USD
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Description

  • Karel van Mander the Elder
  • 'When your plate is empty, you eat bones not bacon'
  • Pen and brown ink and gray wash heightened with white (partly oxidized) over traces of black chalk, within a drawn frame;
    monogrammed in black chalk: K v M, and inscribed in brown ink: Een ydel buydel maecket hert t'onvreden / den tyt voorleden, moeten wy beclaghen / doen wy van het speck al te diepe sneden / t hammegen is op wij t hieltgen knaghen.

Provenance

Jacobus A. Klaver (his mark on the mount; not in Lugt),
his sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 10 May 1994, lot 6, purchased by the present owner

Exhibited

Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Tekeningen van oude Meesters. De verzameling Jacobus A. Klaver, 1993, cat. no. 6

Literature

H. Miedema (ed.), Karel van Mander: The lives of the Illustrious Netherlandish and German Painters, vol. II, Doornspijk 1995, p. 135, cat. no. D48, reproduced;
M. Leesberg et al., The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, Karel van Mander, Rotterdam 1999, p. xcviii, no. 28, reproduced p. civ, fig. 28

Condition

Sold unframed. The drawing has been window mounted for the Klaver collection in japan paper. The lower right corner appears to have been trimmed very slightly, and there are tiny losses at the upper corners. Some slight surface dirt at the lower right corner. A small light brown stain at the bottom of the child's pinafore, and another at the upper margin, to the right of centre. These are barely noticeable, however, and the drawing is in excellent condition, the medium strong and fresh.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

The proverb that van Mander illustrates in this characteristically picturesque drawing, 'Wie Wat Bewaart, die heft Wat', translates loosely as 'He who keeps something, has something' and corresponds also to the proverb, referred to in the text below the image: 'When your plate is empty, you eat bones not bacon'.  The young man seated at the table to the left despairingly contemplates his empty purse, the seated woman gnaws at the remains of an animal bone, and the old woman in the background tears her hair out in distress.  The child, meanwhile, begs for a scrap of the frugal repast.  The only calm figure is the old man in the middle of the composition, who contemplates his awful lot with hands folded, seemingly in prayer.

The drawing is the last in a series of six illustrations of proverbs which were engraved in reverse by the workshop of Goltzius (fig. 1). The first drawing of the group, depicting essentially the same subject as this, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York2: the other four drawings, which illustrate proverbs such as 'Each fancies his owl to be a falcon' and 'They are strong legs that can bear luxury', are in the Albertina, Vienna.3  Stylistically, the present drawing is comparable with works such as the Peasant couple celebrating, in the Rijksprentenkabinet, which is dated 1588.These drawings together show how van Mander, though so recently instrumental in the introduction to Holland of Spranger's elegant Mannerism, had rapidly turned again to the works of Pieter Bruegel the Elder for his inspiration.

1. See Leesberg, op.cit, p. 111, fig. 100/1
2. Inv. no. 1980.121
3. Inv. nos. 8011-8014
4. Inv. no. 1913.3