Pieter Codde

Pieter Smidt van Gelder, Amsterdam;
By whom sold, Geneva, Moos, 7 April 1933, lot 6;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 11 December 1984, lot 105;
With Johnny van Haeften, London, 1985;
With Robert Noortman, Maastricht and London; 
Anonymous sale ("The Property of a Gentleman"), London, Christie's, 7 July 1995, lot 54;
There purchased by the present collector.

For a high resolution digital image, please refer to the online catalogue at Sothebys.com or contact a member of the Old Master Paintings department. 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 is in lovely condition. The panel is unreinforced and made of a single piece of oak. The paint layer is stable and the panel is flat. There are only a few tiny retouches within the figures, namely a few spots in the standing male figure's collar and in the seated violinist's cheek. There are also only a few tiny spots of retouching in the background and upper left corner. The work should be freshly varnished and hung as is.
"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."

Pieter Codde received his early training in his native Amsterdam and was recorded as a practicing painter at the time of his marriage in 1623. His earliest known works are portraits and he was also recorded as being known in the literary circles of Amsterdam at this time. Together with Dirck Hals, Hendrick Pot and Willem Buytewech, Codde play a key role in the development of high class genre painting in the first half of the seventeenth century. His earliest known genre work is the Dancing Lesson in the Musée du Louvre, from 1627. From that point onwards he concentrated on producing interiors populated with elegant, merrymaking figures, often making music as in the present example. The soft grey-green tones used in the drapery of the seated woman holding a violin, and the deep rich black of the standing figure at right are both characterstic of the coloration Codde employed throughout his career. 

The composition appears to have been popular as he executed a number of further versions, all of varying degrees of quality, with the present example appearing to be among the finest to come to market: one was sold New York, Sotheby's, 25 January 2008, lot 365; another sold Van Ham Kunstauktionen, 16 November 2007, lot 684; a third, with a basket shown under the chimney was with Müllenmeister, Colingen, in 1965.  Additionally, copy of the composition was sold in New York, Sotheby's, 28 January 2005, lot 526 (as Circle of Pieter Codde), as well as another supposed copy said to be by Palamedes which was with W. Wheeler and Son, London, in 1950.