Lot 220
  • 220

Jan Berents

Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 USD
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Description

  • Jan Berents
  • Pan and Syrinx, within an elaborate decorative border
  • Gouache on two sheets of vellum, one shaped in the form of an arch, laid down on panel;
    initialled in gold, lower left: i.B. and inscribed in gold, in the lower left and right corners of the drawn border: London - 1524. and Hansus Hollbainius. pinxi(t);
    extensively inscribed in pen and brown ink on a label attached to the panel, verso, detailing the subject and dated: 1708

Condition

Laid down on panel. The work is made up of two separate sheets of vellum, one laid down on top of the other acting as a decorative border to the central image. There are some losses and small scratches to the medium, most noticeable to the extremities. Otherwise this work is in very fine condition with the medium fresh and vibrant throughout. Sold in a modern giltwood frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

This beautifully executed gouache depicting a scene from the myth of Pan and Syrinx, as told by Ovid in his magnus opus Metamorphoses, captures the moment at which Syrinx, who is being pursued by the overly amorous God of the wild, is finally halted by the River Ladon.  Calling on the nymphs of the stream to transform her in an effort to avoid Pan's wanton behaviour, we witness the moment at which Syrinx is transformed into marsh reeds, leaving Pan with nothing but "the strange new music and sweetness of tone"1 coming from the rustling of reeds.

This is one of a small group of comparable gouaches, all drawn within similarly executed, decorative borders, in most cases signed and inscribed in the same distinctive manner, and some bearing dates from 1693 to 1742.  The present work differs from the others, however, in that it is signed with the artist's initials, rather than his full name, and also in the sheer extravagance of the decorative border, in which squirrels, peacocks, birds and weasels inhabit the same mystical world as two dragons and a profusion of fruits and flowers as well as two demonic figures -- half animal, half man.

The last time a work by this rare and interesting artist was sold, in 2007,2 drs. Charles Dumas very kindly shared with us some of the unpublished information that he had discovered regarding Berents's life and works.  Until now, the most significant known documentary record relating to Berents has been the page devoted to him in Christian Kramm's compendium of artists' biographies, De levens en werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche kunstschilders... (Amsterdam 1857, vol. I, pp. 90-1).  Kramm describes an octavo album bearing the inscription: Handboek van den Heer Jacob Bherens, Miniatuur-schilder en Mathematicus, ter gedagteni te bewaren. 1747. 'S Haage.  A previous owner of the book had written notes on the artist inside the front cover, recording that Berents was born in Hamburg in 1679.  Dumas believes, however, that although this birth date is approximately correct, our artist was in fact born in The Hague, as the son of an immigrant from Hamburg, and was named Jan (or Johannes), rather than Jacob. 

So far, Dumas has traced 2 paintings and some 16 drawings and gouaches by Berents, to which can be added some 33 further drawings that are known only from notes in early sale catalogues and inventories. Many of these works are, like the present example, reinterpretations of paintings, prints, maps etc. by other artists.  The artist's inscriptions in the lower margin and on the label on the reverse of the panel suggest that he believed the prototype was by Holbein, but that is clearly impossible.  The only corresponding figure group that has so far been identified appears, in reverse, in the centre of a print by Henri Simon Thomassin, engraved in 1715 after a painting by Louis de Silvestre (Fig. 1).  It is likely, though, that both Berents and Silvestre were in fact looking to the same earlier source, and a painting of the same subject by Sir Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Breughel the Younger, sold in these rooms on 22 April 2015, is likely to have been known by both Berents and Silvestre alike. 

Only five other gouaches by Berents have been sold in the past two decades.  In addition to the image of Cleopatra and the Asp, sold in 2007, they are: an undated winter landscape with a distant view of The Hague, formerly in the Klaver Collection (Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 10 May 1994, lot 30); a scene with Flora and Zephyr, dated 1718 (Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 10 November 1998, lot 107); a river landscape with travellers (Amsterdam, Christie's, 3 November 2004, lot 144); a hilly landscape with harvesters, dated 1742 (Amsterdam, Christie's, 16 November 2006, lot 79). 

1.  Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, translated by  D. Raeburn, London 2004, Book 1, line 707

2.  Cleopatra and the Asp, sold, New York, Sotheby's, The Otto Naumann Ltd. Gallery Sale, 25 January 2007, lot 112