Frans Jansz. Post

By descent in the family of the present owner since the eighteenth century.

Q. Buvelot, 'Review of P. and B. Corrêa do Lago, Frans Post, 1612–1680; catalogue raisonné,' in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CL, no. 1259, February 2008, p. 117, n. 2.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The artist's panel is uncradled and is providing an even and secure structural support. Paint Surface The paint surface has an even and discoloured varnish layer and would undoubtedly respond very well to cleaning. Inspection under ultra violetlight confirms how discoloured the varnish layers have become and shows only the most minimal spots and lines of inpainting around the framing edges. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in extremely good and stable condition and should be transformed by cleaning and revarnishing.
"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."

This is one of two paintings from the same family collection which have only very recently come to light. The other, slightly larger in size and dated 1663, was sold in these Rooms on the 4 July 2007, lot 32 (£714,400). Both were discovered just after the English edition of Pedro and Bea Corrêa do Lago's recent catalogue raisonné of Post's work had gone to press.¹

The building to the left is almost certainly the end of a sugar mill, probably a structure erected by the Portugese and taken over by the Dutch colonists. Similar sugar mills, constructed of local limestone arcading with open gable-ends, can be see in many of Post's paintings of Brazil. One depicted in great detail is in the painting dated 1644, painted for Johan Maurits van Nasau-Siegen, and now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.² In the present work, the building beyond it to the left, on top of a hill, is no doubt intended to be the mill-owner's house. A similar hipped-gabled house with an open verandah on the first floor can be seen in a Sugar Mill painting in Recife, Instituto Ricardo Brennand.³ The structure above and to the right is a porched chapel, also probably originally Portugese. Similar chapels occur in several of Post's landscapes with sugar mills painted in the late 1660s, during what Corrêa do Lago defined as Post's third phase of activity, and the present work is likely to belong to this date and phase.⁴  

 

1. P. and B. Corrêa do Lago, Frans Post (1612–1680), Milan 2007.
2. Idem, p. 216, no. 59, reproduced.
3. Idem, p. 292, no. 114, reproduced, especially the detail facing page.
4. For a similar chapel see the Sugar Mill dated 1667 in Sāo Paulo, Fundaçāo Maria Luisa e Oscar Americano; idem, p. 279, no. 104, reproduced.