Lot 42
  • 42

Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem

Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 USD
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Description

  • Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem
  • Saint Jerome
  • signed lower center on the book: Berghem
  • oil on canvas, unframed

Provenance

Germaine de Grubben (widow of Viscount Gaston de Baré de Comogne);
by descent to Viscount Axel de Baré de Comogne, Antwerp;
From whom purchased by the present owner.  

Condition

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has not been restored for many years and will benefit greatly from some attention. The condition of the main figure seems to be very good. His robes, the book, the skull and his hand are all well preserved, although restorations are anticipated to exist which are not visible under ultraviolet light in the darker brown colors in his hair, in his robe and beneath the horn on the left. The figure blowing the horn in the upper right has been abraded and retouched, but these retouches are not well applied and although some are necessary, they could be handled more delicately. There is a canvas join running from left to right approximately three inches from the top edge. It is unclear whether this added piece of canvas is period to the remainder of the painting, but it seems unlikely. The canvas is currently lined with wax, which should be reversed.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Catalogue Note

Nicolas Berchem gained great popularity during his lifetime as a painter of pastoral scenes with domestic animals, hunting and hawking parties, as well as of seaport and smugglers' dens which show the influence of the painter's extended visit to Italy.

The present work is rather atypical of Berchem's usual style as he rarely moved away from paintings with an Italianate theme. It is, however, through works such as this, that one can see the inspiration which Berchem took from his predecessors in his native city of Haarlem. Peter de Grebber, his teacher, regularly painted similarly rendered half length figures, though often in a more polished and classicist manner. Notable for its virtuoso, rapid brushwork, this Saint Jerome is strongly rooted in the Haarlem tradition, and several similar examples are known by Salomon de Bray. In the sitter's distant gaze, handling, and composition, this Saint Jerome also reflects Berchem's knowledge of Frans Hals, whose Four Evangelists (two works are in the museum of Odessa; one in the Getty Musum, Los Angeles; and one recently with Colnaghi), would  almost surely have been known to him.1

1. P. Biesboer (ed.), Nicolaes Berchem: In the Light of Italy, exhibition catalogue, Haarlem 2006, p. 134.