L13034

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Lot 161
  • 161

Govert Flinck

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 GBP
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Description

  • Govert Flinck
  • Portrait of Dorothea Berck of Alblasserdam (1593-1684), wife of Joseph Coymans
  • indistinctly signed upper left: G. flin... f
  • oil on canvas
  • 73 x 61cm

Provenance

Robert Hutcheson, Glasgow;
His sale, London, Christie’s, 4/5 April 1851, lot 145 (as B. van de Helst), to Yates;
Louis Viardot, (1800-1883), Paris;
His deceased sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 30 April 1884, lot 5;
Arthur Kay, Glasgow;
His sale, London, Christie’s, 11 May 1901, lot 38, for 15 Guineas to Laue;
Dr. C.J.K. van Aalst, Hoevelaken;
By descent to J. N. J. van Aalst, Hoevelaken;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Mak van Waay, 28 September 1966, lot 35;
Daan Cevat, The Netherlands;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie’s, 30 November 1973, lot 73 (for £4,500);
Anonymous sale, London, Christie’s, 25 March 1977, lot 12;
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby’s, 20 April 1988, lot 49 (withdrawn);
Bequeathed by Dr. Rau to the Foundation of the German Committee for UNICEF.

Exhibited

Leiden, Lakenhal, Rondom Rembrandt. De verzameling Daan Cevat, 1968, no. 13.

Literature

W.R. Valentiner in J.W. von Moltke, Dutch and Flemish Old Masters in the Collection of Dr. C.J.K. van Aalst, Verona 1939, p. 136;
B. Haak, Rondom Rembrandt. De verzameling Daan Cevat, exhibition catalogue, Leiden 1968, cat. no. 13, p. 10;
J.W. von Moltke, Govaert Flinck, Amsterdam 1965, p. 143, cat. no. 375, reproduced;
S. Slive, Frans Hals, London 1974, vol. III, p. 83;
W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, Landau/Pfalz 1983, vol. II, cat. no. 704, pp. 1039, 1136.

Condition

Tha canvas has been lined and lining is stable. The painting is in good overall condition, with no major damages or repairs. There is some thinness to the paint surface in the darker ares of the dress and background. There is a restored horizontal damage below Dorothea's left shoulder and just a few minor retouchings elsewhere. The painting requires no further attention and is ready to hang.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

On 22 November 1616 Dorothea Berck of Alblasserdam married Joseph Coymans (1591-after 1660) in Dordrecht and thus entered one of the wealthiest of Dutch families. The Coymans were a family of merchants and bankers; Joseph's brothers Joan and Balthazar commissioned Jacob van Campen to build them a stately double house on the Keizersgracht 1677, Van Campen's first commission. The present portrait and Flinck's portrait of Coymans, which is of precisely the same dimensions but unsigned, were conceived as pendants (fig. 1). Dorothea and Joseph also sat to Frans Hals in 1644 in two of his most celebrated portraits.1


1. Respectively in the Baltimore Museum of Art and Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; see S. Slive, Frans Hals, New York 1974, vol. 3, pp. 81-83, nos. 160 & 161, both reproduced vol. 2, figs. 243 & 244.