Herman Meindertsz Doncker

Anonymous sale, London, Bonhams, 7 December 2005, lot 14 (as Attributed to Gerard van Donck);

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 30 October 2008, lot 71 (as Dutch School, circa 1640);

Where acquired by the present collector.

The present painting depicts an affectionate scene of a young lady accompanied by three children and their pet ponies. Based on photographs, Claire van den Donk and Rudi Ekkart, to whom we are grateful, have supported the attribution of the work to Herman Meindertsz Doncker, who is documented in Enkhuizen from 1641 onward.¹ Characteristic features of his work include the lively rendering of both figures and animals, as well as the incorporation of architectural ruins within the background.²

In their opinion, the painting was undoubtedly executed in West Friesland, most likely in Enkhuizen, a city north of the IJ known during the seventeenth century for its distinctive portraits of young boys accompanied by miniature horses held on leads.3 The costume worn by the young woman corresponds to fashions associated primarily with Enkhuizen at the time, while her hairstyle indicates that she was unmarried and therefore unlikely to be the children’s mother.⁴ The boys’ attire further suggests an execution date of circa 1645–1650.

¹ This artist is sometimes confused with the artist Gerrit Donck who was active in Amsterdam and to whom the present painting was erroneously attributed in 2005.

² For Doncker and his work, see: Ekkart 1990, pp. 25-30, 39, 60-62, 67 and 86-89, and the monographic publication by Frauke Laarmann, ‘Herman Meindertsz. Doncker –Ein origineller Künstler zweiten Ranges’, Oud Holland 114 (2000), pp. 7-52. See for more recent information about the artist: John Brozius and Rudi Ekkart in Esther Blanken a.o., cat. exh. Jan Albertz Rotius. Meesterschilder van Hoorn, Westfries Museum, Hoorn, 2016, pp. 162-167. 

³ Ekkart 1990, pp. 27, 49 and 75-76. 

⁴ For an overview of 17th-century painting in Enkhuizen with many examples of the local traditional costume, see: Rudolf E.O. Ekkart, Portret van Enkhuizen in de gouden eeuw , Zwolle-Enkhuizen 1990 (exhibition Zuiderzeemuseum, Enkhuizen, 1990-1991).