Willem van Mieris

The former:
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, de Leth, 11 May 1756, lot 18 (bought by Bisschop for 180 florins);

The latter:
Collection of C. Reygersbergen van Cauwerven, Middelburg, 1752;
His sale, Leiden, v. d. Eyk, 31 July 1765, lot 37 (bought by Bisschop for 400 florins);

The pair:
Jan (1680-1771) and Pieter (1690-1758) Bisschop, Rotterdam;
Purchased in 1771 from the estate of the above Jan, along with the entire picture collection, by Adrian (1709-1781) and his nephew John Hope (1737-1784), Amsterdam;
By inheritance after Adrian Hope's death to John Hope, Amsterdam and The Hague;
By inheritance to his sons, Thomas Hope (1769-1831), Deepdene, near Dorking, Adrian Elias Hope (1772-1834), and Henry Philip Hope (1774-1839), Bosbeek House, near Heemstede, and, as of 1794, London, where the collection was in possession of John's cousin, Henry Hope (c. 1739-1811);
By inheritance in 1811 solely to Henry Philip Hope, Amsterdam and London, but in possession of his brother, Thomas Hope, Deepdene;
By inheritance in 1839 to Thomas' son, Henry Thomas Hope (1808-1862), Deepdene;
By inheritance to his wife Adèle, née Bichat (d. 1884), London;
By inheritance to her grandson, Henry Francis Hope Pelham-Clinton-Hope, 8th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme (1866-1941), Deepdene;
Charles Davis, London (by whom presumably acquired directly from the above);
His sale, London, Christie's, 3 December 1920, lot 89;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 12 June 1936, lots 13-14, no. 5;
Anonymous sale, Monaco, Sotheby's, 18 June 1992, lot 42, where acquired by the present owner.

The latter:
J. Smith, A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, vol. I, London 1829, p. 91, no. 6;
G. Hoet, Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schidereyen met derzelver prysen zedert een lange reeks van Jaaren..., vol. I, The Hague 1752, p. 535;
E. Wiersum, "Het schilderijen-kabinet van Jan Bisschop te Rotterdam", in Oud Holland, no. XXVIII, 1910, p. 174;

The pair:
P. Terwesten, Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schildereyen...(supplement by Hoet), The Hague 1770, p. 481, no. 35 and p. 138, no. 21;
J. Smith, Supplement to the Catalogue raisonné..., London 1842, p. 54, no. 5 and p. 71, no. 59;
G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, vol. II, London 1854, p. 118;
C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue raisonné..., vol. X, London 1928, pp. 151-2, no. 186, and p. 192, no. 330.

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 pair of panels are both even and secure and the structural condition would appear to be excellent and stable. Paint Surface The paint surfaces appear to have been recently varnished and the varnish surface on the "Poultry seller" is even whereas there is a slight smear across the varnish layer of the "Gentleman offering a Lady a bunch of grapes". Inspection under ultra-violet light shows a number of very small spots in the curtain above the woman's head and small retouchings beneath her right elbow but no retouchings are evident under ultra-violet light on the "Poultry seller". The varnish layers are however quite opaque and it is possible that there may be other retouchings beneath these varnish layers that are not identifiable under ultra- violet light. Summary The paintings would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition and the only work that might be required is the revarnishing of the "Gentleman offering a lady a bunch of grapes". It should be noted however that the varnish layers may be preventing an accurate assessment of retouchings under ultra-violet light.
"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."

These two paintings have hung as a pair since the latter was acquired by Jan and Pieter Bisschop in 1765. The Bisschops had previously bought the former at a sale in 1756. Whether or not conceived as a pair, their dimensions differ by only a few millimetres. Their compositions, too, beautifully counterbalance one another and each includes a relief beneath the window ledge carved with putti fooling around with goats. These carved reliefs are most likely after designs by François du Quesnoy (1589-1643) as was the want of several of the Leiden fijnschilders. The bas-relief featured in the latter, which Van Mieris repeats in a number of other works, is closely related to a Du Quesnoy design that was borrowed by Gerrit Dou for two works depicting young ladies at a window.¹


PROVENANCE
The ownership of these two paintings can be traced back nearly to their inception in the early 18th century. They have lived together as a pair for the majority of their existence, having been bought separately by Jan and Pieter Bisschop in 1756 and 1765 respectively. The Bisschops inherited a yarn-spinning business which they made a success of but they are most notable for the collection of Dutch pictures they put together in the middle decades of the 18th century. The collection as a whole was bought on Jan's death by Adrian Hope, who amassed one of the most illustrious and complete collections of Dutch Old Masters of the time and which even today has rarely been rivalled in the extent and quality of its composition. Much of the collection was sold at Christie's in 1894, though these two paintings seem to have been kept back by Hope's descendant along with a handful of others. They were eventually acquired by Charles Davis, another Dutch picture collector of great renown who had in fact already bought several Hope paintings at the 1894 sale.


1. See, for example, the 1732-dated Grocer's Shop sold London, Christie's, 13 December 1991, lot 36, and the 1710-dated Quack doctor sold Vienna, Dorotheum, 9-10 March 1993, lot 246; the two Dous are in London, National Gallery, and Rotterdam, Boijmans van Beuningen Museum and for sculpted examples of the design see M. Boudon-Machuel, François du Quesnoy, Paris 2005, p. 276ff, cat. no. In.64a.