Adriaen van der Werff

Painted in 1715 for Johann Wilhelm (1658-1716), Kurfürst von der Pfalz, Dusseldorf;
His brother and successor Karl Philipp (1661-1742), Mannheim;
His nephew and successor Karl Theodore (1724-1799), Kurfürst von der Pfalz, who moved to Munich, probably in his collection by 1731;
Upon whose death in the collection of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich, by 1799 until 1909;
Thence on deposit at the Königlichen Gemäldegalerie, Schleissheim, by 1909-until after 1914;
Thence on deposit at the Historisches Museum der Pfalz, Speyer, by 1925;
Acquired by Carel Olie from the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in 1939 by exchange through D.A. Hoogendijk;
Thence by descent and anonymously sold, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 10 November 1998, lot 35;
There purchased by the present owner. 

Rotterdam, Kunsthal, Jezus in de Gouden Eeuw, September 2000 - January 2001, p. 11, reproduced on the back cover.

Probably Adriaen Brouwer, Memorie van Schilderijen door Chevalier van der Werff gemaakt van 1697 tot 1722, 1722, fol. I verso, no. 23 ("Een Heylige Familie, zÿnde Jesus, Maria & Joseph");
J. van Gool, De nieuwe Schouburg der Nederlantsche Kuntschilders en Schilderessen, vol. II, The Hague 1751, p. 561 ("Een Heilige Familie, door den Ridder van der Werff");
G. von Dillis, Verzeichnis der Gemälde in der Königlichen Pinakothek zu München, 1845, p. 280, cat. no. 500 (as in Cabinet XVI, no date mentioned);
Verzeichnis der Gemälde in der Königlichen Pinakothek zu München, 1860, p. 258, cat. no. 500, (no date mentioned);
Probably Verzeichnis der Gemälde der Königlichen Pinakothek zu München, 1883, p. 65, cat. no. 368 (no date mentioned);
Illustrierter Katalog der Königlichen Älteren Pinakothek in München, p. 97, no. 464;
Katalog der Gemälde-Sammlung der Königlichen Älteren Pinakothek in München, 1896 and 1904, pp. 107-8, cat. no. 464;
Katalog der Gemälde-Sammlung der Königlichen Älteren Pinakothek in München, 1908, p. 103, cat. no. 464;
Katalog der Königlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Schleissheim, 1914, p. 268, cat. no. 464 (with incorrect measurements);
Katalog der Staatsgemälde-Sammlung in Speyer, 1927, p. 94, inv. no. 204;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters of the Seventeenth Century, Vol. IV, Paris/Esslingen 1928, p. 249, cat. no. 49;
A. von Würzbach, Niederländisches Künterlexikon, vol. II, Amsterdam 1968, p. 851;
B. Gaehtgens, Adriaen van der Werff 1659-1722, Munich 1987, pp. 158, 191, 336-8, cat. no. 85, reproduced, p. 337;
E. Korthals Altel, "The collections of the Palatine Electors: new information, documents and drawings," in The Burlington Magazine, March 2003, pp. 206-18, no. 63, reproduced, fig.105. 

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 beautiful condition. It is painted on a flat and very smooth panel. This is a single piece of wood that is very finely finished on the surface. The paint layer may be slightly dirty, but the varnish is so polished and smooth that it is tempting to leave the work alone. There do not seem to be any restorations except for in the waist of the reclining child and a spot or two in the sky. The condition is beautiful and the work should be 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."

In 1696, Adriaen van der Werff met the Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm, who would soon thereafter appoint him court painter at the salary of four thousand guilders, ultimately becoming the artist's greatest patron and champion. Indeed, under his contract, it was stipulated than van der Werff was required to devote six months out of the year working on paintings intended exclusively for the Elector's collection. In the subsequent years van der Werff traveled between Rotterdam and Düsseldorf, presenting numerous mythological, genre, and religious pictures to the Elector and his family, eventually executing no less than thirty pictures for the Elector. Upon Johann Wilhelm's death in 1716, van der Werff continued to paint for a number of illustrious patrons throughout Europe, including August II of Poland. 

This highly refined Holy Family is no doubt one of the finest religious compositions executed by van der Werff for the Elector, and was completed in the artist's full maturity, ten years after being created a knight by Johann Wilhelm.¹ The picture adorned the Electoral Palace in Düsseldorf and was subsequently hung for the next two hundred years at the princely residences in Munich, Schleissheim and Speyer, until it entered the collection of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in 1939 (see Provenance, and fig. 1).²  It hung alongside masterworks by Dutch and Italian artists, including three works by Jan Brueghel the Elder; Carlo Dolci's Christ with the Crown of Thorns; Palma Giovane's Adoration of the Kings; as well as a number of works by van der Werff's fellow fijnschilders (including Gerrit Dou, Eglon van der Neer, and Godfried Schalcken); and five pictures by van der Werff himself, including the present example.³ Van der Werff executed another religious work for the Elector in 1713, a Mary with Christ and Saint John (Gemäldegalerie, Dresden), which shares with this Holy Family a similarly composed spatial arrangement and van der Werff's hallmark attention to detail and realism. A preliminary sketch for this picture, executed on panel, in reverse to the finished painting, and without Joseph, is located in the Rijksmuseum (inv. no. C 1604). 

1. After 1703, van der Werff signed his works with the prefix Chevr ("Chevalier"), as is the case in this picture.
2. When last sold (see Provenance), the Bayerische Stattsgemäldesammlungen, Munich, confirmed that this painting was deaccessioned by exchange in 1939. 
3. See E. Korthals Altel, op.cit., p. 211.