Abraham de Verwer

A l'oeil nu, le tableau se présente dans un état de conservation très satisfaisant. Il est peint sur un panneau de chêne constitué de deux planches non parquetées. Le panneau est parfaitement droit et la matière picturale est parfaitement stable. Le tableau est peint avec une belle matière très fine et avec de beaux jeux de transparence de glacis. A la lampe UV, le tableau présente de très nombreux points de restauration répartis sur toute la surface essentiellement dans le ciel et l'eau. To the naked eye, the painting is in a very good overal condition. It is painted on a oak tree panel made of one uncradled board. The painting is perfectly straight and the paint surface perfectly stable. The painting has a nice very thin paint surface with nice transparencies and glazing. Under the UV light : the painting has many restorations touches all over the surface, especially in the sky and the water.
"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."

Certainly a student of the marine painter Hendrick Vroom (1590-1640), Abraham de Verwer left Haarlem around 1637 for France. In 1639, thanks to Sir Constantijn Huygens's assistance, secretary of Frederick Henry of Orange, he sent the Prince two scenes of his new city of election, Paris. Our view of the Seine dates from this period and is close to one of his three panoramas of the capital currently in the collections of the Carnavalet Museum (CARP0333; P 333). Like one of the paintings in the Parisian museum, our scene offers the rare privilege of seeing together three of the destroyed great, sometimes forgotten, monuments of Paris. Thus, to the left of the composition is the Porte Neuve, which Henry IV had triumphantly rode through forty years earlier, next to the Bois Tower, that Medieval remnant of the time when the Louvre formed a rampart for the capital. These buildings, destroyed in 1670, face the Nesle Tower here, on the other side of the Seine, razed even earlier than the other two in order to build on its site the Collège des Quatre-Nations, the present Academy. With a meticulousness perhaps learned in the workshops of cabinetmakers, since de Verwer seemed to have been a carpenter and painter at the same time, the artist gave us here a precious testimony of Paris during the first half of the 17th century. Without him, would we have forgotten these low houses outside the walls which saw the procession of carts along the left bank, while the right bank, equally animated, the Louvre's facade was available for the washerwomen to hang laundry out of the windows by the Kings' residence?