- 14
Joseph Heintz the Elder
Estimate
70,000 - 90,000 GBP
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Description
- Joseph Heintz the Elder
- Saint Martin dividing his cloak
- signed and dated lower left: joHEintz/ 1600./ F. (joHE in compendium)
and inscribed on the reverse: IOS. HEINTZ. - oil on copper, oval
Provenance
St Martin's Parish Church, Aldington, Kent, by whom sold, London, Sotheby's, 4 November 1970, lot 5, for £1,650 to Wright;
J. Dik, Vevey;
With Julius Böhler, Munich, 1975, from whom acquired by the father of the present owner in 1978.
J. Dik, Vevey;
With Julius Böhler, Munich, 1975, from whom acquired by the father of the present owner in 1978.
Exhibited
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, on loan, 1984-2000.
Literature
J. Zimmer, "Joseph Heintz d. Ä., Neue Ergenbnisse zum Werk des Malers", in Alte und Moderne Kunst, no. 24, 1980, p. 9 ff;
G. Krämer, in Welt im Umbruch, Augsburg Zwischen Renaissance und Barock, exhibition catalogue, Augsburg 1980, vol. II, p. 118, under cat. no. 466;
E. Mai, `Neuzugänge am Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Dauerleigaben aus Privatbesitz', in Bulletin der Museen der Stadt Köln, no. 6, 1984, pp. 77-81;
Von Stefan Lochner bis Paul Cezanne. 120 Meisterwerke der Gemäldesammlung Köln, Milan 1986, p. 176, reproduced in colour;
T. DaCosta Kaufmann, L'École de Prague. La peinture à la cour de Rodolphe II, Paris 1985, p. 233, no. 7-24, reproduced p. 232;
T. DaCosta Kaufmann, The School of Prague. Painting at the Court of Rudolph II, (English ed. of the above) Chicago/London 1988, p. 190, no. 7.24, reproduced;
Prag um 1600. Kunst und Kultur am Hofe Rudolfs II, Essen 1988, p. 24;
J. Zimmer, Joseph Heintz der Ältere. Zeichnungen und Dokumente, Munich 1988, p. 299, under no. E 23;
J. Rees, in E. Mai (ed.), Das Kabinett des Sammlers, Cologne 1993, pp. 22-4, reproduced.
G. Krämer, in Welt im Umbruch, Augsburg Zwischen Renaissance und Barock, exhibition catalogue, Augsburg 1980, vol. II, p. 118, under cat. no. 466;
E. Mai, `Neuzugänge am Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Dauerleigaben aus Privatbesitz', in Bulletin der Museen der Stadt Köln, no. 6, 1984, pp. 77-81;
Von Stefan Lochner bis Paul Cezanne. 120 Meisterwerke der Gemäldesammlung Köln, Milan 1986, p. 176, reproduced in colour;
T. DaCosta Kaufmann, L'École de Prague. La peinture à la cour de Rodolphe II, Paris 1985, p. 233, no. 7-24, reproduced p. 232;
T. DaCosta Kaufmann, The School of Prague. Painting at the Court of Rudolph II, (English ed. of the above) Chicago/London 1988, p. 190, no. 7.24, reproduced;
Prag um 1600. Kunst und Kultur am Hofe Rudolfs II, Essen 1988, p. 24;
J. Zimmer, Joseph Heintz der Ältere. Zeichnungen und Dokumente, Munich 1988, p. 299, under no. E 23;
J. Rees, in E. Mai (ed.), Das Kabinett des Sammlers, Cologne 1993, pp. 22-4, reproduced.
Condition
The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's.
UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Structural Condition
The artist's copper is providing a sound and secure structural support.
Paint Surface
The paint surface has two diagonal surface abrasions and would therefore benefit from revarnishing to ensure a more even surface coating.
Inspection under ultra-violet light shows small scattered retouchings which are mainly just very
small spots in the dark background and also on the dog in the foreground with minimal spots and lines on the horse and figures in the lower right of the composition. There may be other retouchings beneath the discoloured varnish layers which are not identifiable under ultra-violet light.
Inspection under ultra-violet light also confirms that the varnish layers have discoloured and that while no further work is required for reasons of conservation, the painting should benefit from cleaning.
Summary
The painting would therefore appear to be in good and stable condition.
Frame
The brown wooden frame which has faint gilded decoration is in good condition with just very small losses on the outer edges and old splits on the oval inner slip.
"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."
"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
Although it had come to light the previous year, Jürgen Zimmer was unaware of this work when he published his catalogue raisonné of Joseph Heintz's paintings in 1971. He did, however, list a lost St. Martin, recorded in the inventory of Anna Rosina von Stetten, drawn up in 1716 in Augsburg (no. 51): St. Martinus nach Joseph Haintzen Epitaphium zu St. Anna, which purports to list a drawn copy.1 As he and Gode Krämer (see Literature) subsequently clarified, the present picture is a version of the one Heintz painted in the same year for the Epitaph for Martin Zobel the Elder, a wealthy Augsburg citizen whose fortune derived from tin and copper mining interests in Saxony and the Tyrol, who died in 1584. The Epitaph is situated near the door in the crossing of the Evangelische Lutheran Church of Saint Anna in Augsburg, of which Zobel was a benefactor. Heintz's painting occupies the broken pediment which surmounts the monument, which is carved from red marble.
Both pictures are oval, and on copper plates of similar size. Although they are both dated 1600, the present version probably post-dates the one painted for Zobel's Epitaph since, as Krämer and Zimmer have both suggested, it corrects and improves on the Zobel picture in small respects. The most important of these is the change in the position of the horse, so that its body and head are turned towards the viewer to reflect the turning body of St. Martin behind; this allows the extended hands of both beggars and the left hand of the Saint, which are key to the action being depicted, to occupy neutral space behind the horse, and it also allows the Saint to twist his body round in a more natural and less extreme manner.
A drawn copy after the present picture in Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett,2 may well be the one referred to in the 1716 Stetten inventory; it is taken from the present picture and not the one in Zobel's Epitaph.
1. See J. Zimmer, Joseph Heintz der Ältere als Maler, Weißenhorn 1971, p. 152, D 24.
2. K.d.Z. no. 14918; see Zimmer, under Literature, 1988, and reproduced fig. 177.
Both pictures are oval, and on copper plates of similar size. Although they are both dated 1600, the present version probably post-dates the one painted for Zobel's Epitaph since, as Krämer and Zimmer have both suggested, it corrects and improves on the Zobel picture in small respects. The most important of these is the change in the position of the horse, so that its body and head are turned towards the viewer to reflect the turning body of St. Martin behind; this allows the extended hands of both beggars and the left hand of the Saint, which are key to the action being depicted, to occupy neutral space behind the horse, and it also allows the Saint to twist his body round in a more natural and less extreme manner.
A drawn copy after the present picture in Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett,2 may well be the one referred to in the 1716 Stetten inventory; it is taken from the present picture and not the one in Zobel's Epitaph.
1. See J. Zimmer, Joseph Heintz der Ältere als Maler, Weißenhorn 1971, p. 152, D 24.
2. K.d.Z. no. 14918; see Zimmer, under Literature, 1988, and reproduced fig. 177.