Dirck van Cats

Believed to have passed down by inheritance in the present owner's extended family since the late 19th century.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The canvas has an old lining which is still ensuring a generally sound and secure structural support. Paint surface The paint surface has an uneven and discoloured varnish layer and should respond very well to cleaning and revarnishing. Inspection under ultraviolet light shows scattered retouchings, the most significant of which are: 1) on the face of the woman, particularly on the left and right sides of her forehead and over her left eye, 2) a number of quite extensive retouchings on her costume, all of which are undoubtedly excessive and larger than is really necessary. 3) Retouchings down the left vertical framing edge and in the lower left corner. 4) Retouchings in the sky in the upper left of the composition. I would expect to find other retouchings beneath old, opaque varnish layers that are not identifiable under ultraviolet light. There are small losses in the lower left and lower right corners, and some minor frame rubbing. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in essentially good and stable condition and should respond very well to cleaning and revarnishing and I would be confident of a significant improvement in the overall appearance.
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Depicting an elegant couple in a forested landscape, this exciting rediscovery is one of only three known signed paintings by the enigmatic Dutch artist Dirck van Cats, active in The Hague during the first quarter of the seventeenth century. The two other signed pictures are also dated 1622 and are of very similar dimensions to this one. One, showing an outdoor market scene of vegetables, with similarly prominent elaborately dressed figures, was last seen in 1932, when it formed part of an Italian noble collection. The other, sold at Dorotheum, 7 and 8 March, 1924, lot 24, and later at Parke-Bernet, New York, 11 March 1943, lot 117 (fig. 1), depicts a prominent and elegant company on ice, with skaters in the background. These three works presumably formed part of a series, perhaps showing allegories of the Four Seasons. If so, the company on ice would clearly be Winter, the market scene Autumn and ours would represent Summer, with a remaining lost work depicting Spring.

The composition is populated by groups of fashionable figures strolling leisurely along a path winding through a verdant forest in full bloom. Dominating the painting are the young, colourful and brilliantly attired couple with their dog. Their costume has allowed van Cats to demonstrate his technical skill, revelling in the depiction of texture, light and colour. The brilliant flash of red visible in the young man’s stockings, full breeches and doublet, all with gold embroidery, offsets the more muted colours of his surroundings. The equally magnificent and beautifully rendered silk dress of his female companion shimmers with the light caught in its layered folds. The mask hanging by the face of the woman suggests they may be about to attend an outdoor ball. With his aristocratic and care-free figures, van Cats builds on the newly conceived genre of the fête-galante, developed by David Vinckboons and popular in the Netherlands from 1615 onwards.

The gesture of the male figure implies that he is perhaps introducing or revealing something to his female companion who gazes directly out at the viewer. This is mimicked in the likely Allegory of Winter, in which a similarly prominent male figure points with his finger in order to indicate something outside the sphere of the painting to his female partner. Also to be remarked upon are the peasant couple at the left of our composition, who find their counterparts in the background of the Allegory of Autumn. Although two of the scenes take the leisurely existence of the wealthy as their theme, it is not clear whether they were intended as moral admonitions to their viewers, who, with the aforementioned gestures, are encouraged to interact with the paintings.

We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer of the RKD, The Hague, for confirming the attribution to Dirck van Cats, on the basis of a photograph, and for alerting us to the existence of other works from this series.