PIETER JACOBSZ. DUYFHUYSEN | A GROUP OF SOLDIERS RESTING NEAR CLASSICAL REMAINS IN A LANDSCAPE

The Archduchess Katalin of Austria and Bavaria (1909 - 2000);

Thence by descent until sold, London, Sotheby's, 10 April 2003, lot 41A;

There acquired by Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam;

By whom sold, London, Sotheby's, 9 December 2010, lot 134;

Where acquired.

This is, as Willem van der Watering and Fred G. Meijer confirmed at the time of the 2003 sale, an early work by the Rotterdam genre painter Duyfhuysen, dating from circa 1630. It is the only known work that he signed using the Latinized form of his surname, meaning 'dovecote', and is markedly different from his mature works, for the most part peasant interiors with maids engaged in domestic chores. His oeuvre was reconstructed by Van der Watering [1].

1. See W.L. van der Watering, "Pieter Duyfhuijsen (1608-1677): een reconstructie van het oeuvre van een vergeten Rotterdamse schilder van boereninterieurs", in Jahrbuch Preussischer Kulturbestiz (1987): pp. 357-383.