Lot Details
Description
Property from the SØR Rusche Collection
DIRCK WIJNTRACK
Heusden before 1625 - 1678 The Hague
POULTRY YARD WITH TWO COCKS FIGHTING
oil on canvas
unframed: 79.5 x 72.6 cm.; 31¼ x 28⅝ in.
framed: 91 x 84 cm.; 35¾ x 33 in.
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Condition Report
The canvas is lined. The paint surface is relatively clean, and varnish is slightly discoloured. There are discoloured retouchings visible in the trees, upper left, and in the roof, upper right. These are confirmed under ultraviolet light, which also reveals further spot retouching in the brickwork, center right, in the foreground below the chickens, and a few further spots scattered throughout. In overall fair condition.
The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot provided by Sotheby's. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colours and shades which are different to the lot's actual colour and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation because Sotheby's is not a professional conservator or restorer but rather the condition report is a statement of opinion genuinely held by Sotheby's. For that reason, Sotheby's condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot.
Cataloguing
Provenance
With J. Bier, Haarlem, 1940;
Art market, Munich, before 1960;
Anonymous sale, Cologne, Lempertz, 28 April 1965, lot 169;
Schmitz collection, Cologne;
Anonymous sale, Cologne, Van Ham, 19 October 1979, lot 1298, when acquired.
Exhibited
Rotterdam, Kunsthal, At Home in the Golden Age, 9 February – 18 May 2008, no. 10 (as Jan Wijnants and Dirck Wijntrack).
The SØR Rusche Collection has been exhibited extensively over the last two decades. Please click here for further information.
Literature
W. Bernt, Die Niederländischen Maler und Zeichner des 17. Jahrhunderts, Munich 1979, vol. III, reproduced pl. 1535;
K. Eisele, Jan Wijnants (1631/32-1684). Ein Niederländischer Maler der Ideallandschaft im Goldenen Jahrhundert, Stuttgart 2000, p. 91, reproduced fig. V2;
H.-J. Raupp (ed.), Niederländische Malerei des. 17. Jahrhunderts der SØR Rusche-Sammlung, vol. 5, Stilleben und Tierstücke, Münster/Hamburg/London 2004, pp. 264–67, cat. no. 60, reproduced in colour (as Jan Wijnants and Dirck Wijntrack);
W. Pijbes, M. Aarts, M. J. Bok et al., At Home in the Golden Age, exh. cat., Zwolle 2008, p. 40, cat. no. 10, reproduced in colour (as Jan Wijnants and Dirck Wijntrack).
Catalogue Note
Wijntrack is noted for his paintings of wildfowl - a sub-genre for which there was clearly market demand, and in which Wijntrack chose to specialise. While some of the chickens on the right appear somewhat oblivious, a drama is about to take place on the left, as the two cocks square up to each other.
Wijntrack collaborated frequently with landscape artists, such as Jan Wijnants, with whom he worked in the 1650s, producing paintings signed by both painters. The present painting probably dates from this period.