Aelbert van der Schoor

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's Amsterdam, 12 May 1992, lot 157 (as by Abraham van der Schoor);
There acquired by the present collector.

P. van den Brink, "Aelbert van der Schoor, een Utrechts schilder en zijn werk", in Oud Holland 108 (1994), pp. 37-58, cat. no. 13;
P. van den Brink, "Aelbert van der Schoor, een Utrechts schilder en zijn werk", in Jaarboek Oud Utrecht 1998, pp.139-167, cat. no. 15. 

The painting is slightly brighter than it appears in the catalogue illustration. 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 has not been restored for many years. The canvas is lined and the paint layer is dirty. There is some active instability in the center of the left side. There is also some visible unevenness to the surface between the female figure and the violinist, as well as on the right side of the canvas. Originally made from two pieces of canvas, the join runs from left to right through the knees of the female figure. The lining should be changed in order to properly relax the unevenness and consolidate the instability. There is a more or less unrestored complex tear that runs from the center of the woman's torso into her right elbow and down into the table cloth beneath the grapes on the left. There are also damages in the center of the right side. Hardly any restoration is visible with ultraviolet light examination due to an old varnish, but one can see restorations with the naked eye in the figures in the upper left, in the background behind the woman's right hand, in the landscape beyond and along the right side. There is also some restoration along the original join. However, there is a resilient and effective paint layer in many areas that will certainly support these other areas which may have weakness. This is a large picture form the early part of the 17th Century and the quality is very good. The right restoration will make an enormous difference.
"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."

Predominanlty a portraitist and still life painter, little is known of the life of Aelbert van der Schoor and his works are comparatively rare.  In this painting, showing Esther singing before Mordecai, van der Schoor appears to have used the same model for Esther as for the singing female figure in his allegorical work A Concert Party¸ now in the Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery, Peterborough (inv. no. 1939 J.16) which dates to circa 1650.  Not only are the two remarkably similar in their facial features but the female figure’s expressions and gestures are almost identical to those of Esther, facing right, her eyes looking upper left, her mouth open in mid-song, a book in her left hand and her right raised with an open palm.