Jacob Ochtervelt

Charles J. Nieuwenhuys (1799-1883), London;

His sale, London, Christie's, 10 May 1833, lot 24 (as Hugterveld);

Where acquired by "Dunford" on behalf of John Rushout (1770-1859), 2nd Baron Northwick, Northwick Park, Gloucestershire, for £10;

Albert Levy;

Captain Dennistoun;

Anonymous sale ("Different Properties"), London, Christie's, 21 March 1919, lot 155 (as G. Terburg);

Where acquired by "Williams," for £735;

Anonymous sale ("Different Properties"), London, Christie's, 18 July 1924, lot 68 (as J. Ochtervelt);

Where acquired by "Clifford," for £399;

With W.E. Duits, London, by 1945 and until 1946;

From whom acquired by Mrs. R.A. Constantine, Yorkshire, 1946;

Thence by inheritance to Herbert Norbert Constantine, Rogate, Petersfield, Hampshire;

By whose estate sold ("Property from the Estate of the Late Herbert Norman Constantine"), Amsterdam, Christie's, 15 November 2016, lot 137;

Where acquired and until sold, New York, Christie's, 19 April 2018, lot 102;

Where acquired.

London, Arcade Gallery, Baroque Painting of Flanders and Holland, 15 June - 14 July 1945, no. 22;

Nottingham, Central Young Men’s Christian Association, Dutch and Flemish Art Exhibition, 10 - 29 September 1945, no. 38 (lent by W.E. Duits);

Bristol, Red Lodge, Dutch Old Masters, 14 March - 6 April, 1946, no. 20 (lent by W.E. Duits);

Scarborough, Municipal Art Gallery, Dutch and Flemish Masters from the Collection of Mrs. R.A. Constantine and Family: Dutch Festival 1960, June 1960, no. 30.

E. Plietzsch, "Jacob Ochtervelt," in Pantheon 20 (July-December 1937), p. 372, note 1;

Baroque Painting of Flanders and Holland, exhibition catalogue, London 1945, p. 22,, reproduced cat. no. 22;

Dutch and Flemish Art Exhibition, exhibition catalogue, Nottingham 1945, p. 5, cat. no. 38, reproduced pl. xii (as Ochtervelt);

Souvenir Catalogue of the Exhibition of Dutch Old Masters, exhibition catalogue, Bristol 1946, n.p., cat. no. 20, reproduced (as Ochtervelt);

Dutch and Flemish Masters from the Collection of Mrs. R.A. Constantine and Family: Dutch Festival 1960, exhibition catalogue, Scarborough 1960, cat. no. 30;

E. Plietzsch, Holländische und flämische Maler des XVII.Jahrh., Leipzig 1960, p. 66;

S. Kuretsky, The Paintings of Jacob Ochtervelt (1634-1682), Montclair 1979, pp. 89-90, cat. no. 85, reproduced fig. 99.

This interior genre scene by Jacob Ochtervelt depicts a formal social exchange between a gentleman and a young woman in a refined domestic setting. The man bends forward with his hat in hand, signaling polite address, while the woman stands with crossed arms and an averted gaze, her posture conveying composure and reserve. A small spaniel seated on an upholstered chair at right raises its paw, subtly echoing the gentleman’s deferential gesture.

Compositions centered on courteous visitation were explored by several of the leading genre painters of the period, yet Ochtervelt’s adaptation stands apart for its soft, almost tender articulation of the figures. He emphasizes distinction through costume, contrasting the woman’s luminous satin dress and gold-trimmed apron with the darker, more subdued attire of her visitor, while the carefully calibrated poses reinforce contemporary ideals of civility and decorum central to Dutch urban life in the seventeenth century. The lady’s fashion, particularly her prim hairstyle and the cut of her bodice, suggests a date in the early 1670s.