Jürgen Ovens

Private collection, U.S.A.;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 5 July 1918, lot 84, where sold with a book of memoirs by Colonel Hutchinson;
With Agnews, London;
Mrs Celia Tobin Clarke, San Francisco;
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 17-18 May 1972, lot 141, where acquired by Price;
Helen Arden Pierce;
By whose Estate sold, New York, Sotheby's, 17 January 1992, lot 29 for $115,000;
With Konrad Bernheimer, Munich, by 1998;
From whom acquired 30 April 1998 by the present owner.

San Francisco, California, The Hall of the Legion of Honor, 1970.

H. Schmidt, Jürgen Ovens: Sein Leben und seine Werke, Kiel 1922, p. 179, cat. no. 223, reproduced fig. 28;
W. Sumowski, Die Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, Landau 1983, vol. III, p. 2236, cat. no. 1547, reproduced p. 2302;
W. Sumowski, Drawings of Rembrandt School, English edition, New York 1989, vol. IX, p. 4584, cat. no. 2040, and p. 4696, under cat. no. 2095x.

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 canvas has been lined onto a keyed wooden stretcher which is ensuring an even and secure structural support. Paint Surface The paint surface appears to have been recently varnished and has an even varnish layer and inspection under ultra-violet light shows scattered retouchings, the most significant of which are: 1) around the framing edges and in particular on the right vertical framing edge, 2) small retouchings on the cloak of the Colonel, 3) an area covering an old tear, the diagonal line of which measures approximately 13 cm in length and the vertical line 7 cm in length. This is on the dark red drapery below the child and is approximately 13 cm above the lower horizontal framing edge. There are only very small spots of inpainting on the flesh tones and very minimal retouchings on the sitters' faces. The details of the painting appear well preserved. There may be other retouchings beneath the old varnish layers which are not identifiable under ultra-violet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in good and stable condition and no further work is required.
"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."

Celebrated for his mythological as well as historical works, Ovens was also a talented portraitist, as this work testifies. After training in Amsterdam with Rembrandt, Ovens is thought to have spent time in Antwerp under the guidance of Jan Lievens before moving back to Amsterdam in 1657. Shortly after he must have travelled to England to paint the present work which is still very much rooted in the Flemish manner in its idealised and ordered portrayal of a family group. The lovely condition of the painting allows us to appreciate fully the contrast between the different textures: the glistening velvet robes are painted in a smooth and controlled way, while the thick and freely applied brushstrokes of the feathers in the little boy's hat lower right and the voluminous impasto of the hem of the lady's red skirt betray the influence of Rembrandt.

The sitters are traditionally identified as Colonel John Hutchinson and his family. Hutchinson was a Member of Parliament for Nottinghamshire who fought for the parliamentary army in the English Civil War and was subsequently one of the thirty-nine commissioners who signed the death warrant of King Charles I.  

Sumowski links the portrait to a related drawing in the Pretenkabinet der Rijksuniversiteit in Leiden, inv. no. AW108 (see fig. 1).