Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem

With Sixtina Art Gallery, New York, 1944;
From whom purchased by the present owners.

P. van Thiel, Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem, Doornspijk 1999, pp. 116, 377, cat. no. 218, reproduced (as present whereabouts unknown).

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 has been recently and well restored and the condition is impressive. The glue lining is very effective. The retouches visible under ultraviolet light are very minor, and address tiny dots in isolated spots in the face of the woman and the man on the left. The man on the right has fewer retouches in his face, but there is a 1 x 1 inch restoration in his tunic. The woman's left hand shows a few retouches, but the condition is clearly very good, with no evident abrasion to the paint layer. The painting should be hung in its current condition.
"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."

In the 1580s, Cornelis van Haarlem, together with the poet, painter and art theorist, Karel van Mander, and the painter and engraver, Hendrick Goltzius, was one of the principal exponents of the Mannerist style which enjoyed a brief but intense flowering in Haarlem. By the mid 1590s, however, when The choice between young and old was painted, van Haarlem's work was shifting towards a more temperate approach, in response to Goltzius’s own rejection of Mannerism. The violent contortions and exaggeratedly muscular nudes which typified his earlier style, gave way in favor of more restful poses and figure types, more akin to classical ideals of proportion and harmony. 

This recently re-discovered picture by was painted at this pivotal moment in the artist's career. It represents a stark contrast to the exuberance of his youthful oeuvre, exemplified by early large scale works such as The Massacre of the Innocents (1590, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) and The Fall of Titans (1588-90, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen).

Van Haarlem treated the subject of The choice between young and old on at least three further occasions, all of which are early works, and each with a unique approach to the composition: one in the Staatliche Kunstammlungen, Dresden (1594); another offered London, Christie's, 8 December 2009, lot 6 (1594); and a third (1597) which is listed by van Thiel as "present whereabouts unknown" (see Literature, van Thiel 1999, cat. no. 219).