Lot 488
  • 488

Cornelis de Man

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
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Description

  • Cornelis de Man
  • Man weighing coins in an interior, other figures in the room beyond
  • oil on canvas

Provenance

With Galerie Dr. Schäffer, Berlin, presumably by whom consigned to;
Anonymous Sale, J. Fiévez, Brussels, 16 December, 1929, lot 58, illustrated, perhaps unsold;
With Gaston Neumans, Brussels and Paris, 1931;
Anonymous Sale, Christie's, London, 5 November, 1965, lot 77, there purchased for 380 guineas by Douglas;
Mr. and Mrs. Robert R. Birkhauser, Madison, WI, thence by descent to the current owners.

Exhibited

Berlin, Galerie Dr. Schäffer, Die Meister des holländischen Interieurs, April-May, 1929, cat. 52, illustrated.

Literature

C. Brière-Misme, "Un émule de Vermeer et de Pieter de Hooch: Cornélis de Man," in Oud Holland, 52, 1935, pp. 105-6, footnote 2 (as Cornelis de Man);
L. M. Bassett, Cornelis de Man, PHD dissertation, 2003, p. 173, reproduced, figs. 21, 8 (as attributed to Cornelis de Man).

Condition

The canvas has an old glue relining and is stable on its stretcher. The paint surface overall is smooth and stable with some areas of abrasion and thinness in the background. The foreground figure is clearly defined however and the image overall reads very well. Inspection under UV reveals an old diagonal repaired tear of approx. 2 in. in the door upper left, another in the rug lower left and another of approx. 3 in. above the oval picture frame center right. A further reading is impeded somewhat by the milky varnish though minor retouches and strengthening appear to be scattered throughout the background. These retouches have now discolored somewhat and could perhaps be reapplied. The painting is otherwise ready to hang. Offered in a decoratively carved gilt wood 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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

The reappearance of this canvas, known to modern scholars only through old black and white photographs, has allowed its reassessment in the corpus of the Delft artist Cornelis de Man.  Eddy Schavemaker, who had dated the picture stylistically based on those archival images to circa 1680-1700, has now suggested  an early dating to the late 1670s based on new images.1  Drs. Martine Lambrechtsen has examined modern photographs of the painting, and although it was not included in her own thesis on the artist (2005), she believes the painting to be by de Man, noting certain elements as typical of the artist (such as the depiction of the figures in the far room, the chair, and the idiosyncratic composition).  Certainly, the exquisite detail of the carpet on the table and the strong geometric design of the stone floor find parallels in numerous other works by the artist.

Like his contemporaries in Delft, Johannes Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch, de Man celebrated the Dutch interior-- its architecture, decoration and space-- and the activities that took place there: humble, domestic, or as in the present case, financial.  The figure of the coin-weigher was a venerable one in Northern art, and often charged with an allegorical meaning; in this composition, the artist uses it as an excuse to depict an elegant room.  De Man treated the subject on more than one occasion, including in the Goldweigher sold in these Rooms in 1998.2 

1. According to a notation in the RDK, online database, no. 115395, and a subsequent private communication.

2.  Sotheby's, New York, 30 January, 1998, lot 30.