PIETER DE HOOCH | A lady feeding a parrot

oil on canvas ; signed centre left on the window frame : P. de Hooghe.

Possibly Marquise de Pompadour, duchesse de Menars (according to the 2009-sale catalogue; seal with three towers on the reverse: Pompadour according to Jan de Maere);
Collection Constantin, Paris;
His sale, Paris, Pérignon, 18 March 1816, lot 44 (to Pérignon for 380 francs);
Alexis Nicolas Pérignon Collection, Paris;
His sale, Paris, Me Lacoste, 10 December 1817, lot 25 (sold for 300 francs);
Collection T. Ward, by whom sold to Sedelmeyer on 4 November 1904;
With Galerie Sedelmeyer, Paris, 1905, where sold to Vischer Boetger on 7 November 1905;
Collection Vischer Boetger;
Collection Dr. H.-B. Jacobs, Baltimore, by 1927;
Sale Margareta C. Clarck and others (H.-B. Jacobs), New York, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 23 October 1941, lot 54;
Collection Jean-Germain-Léon Baron and Baroness Cassel van Doorn, Paris;
Their sale, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 9 March 1954, lot 37;
With Galerie Pardo, Paris, 1954;
Mrs S. private collection;
Her sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Lombrail-de Quay, 21 February 1997, lot 25;
Collection Yves Saint Laurent - Pierre Bergé, rue de Babylone, Paris;
Their sale, Paris, Christie's, 24 February 2009, lot 71.
 

Paris, Galerie Sedelmeyer, Illustrated catalogue of the ninth series of 100 paintings by old masters of the Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French, and English schools being a portion of the Sedelmeyer Gallery which contains about 1500 original pictures by ancient and modern artists, 1905-1906, p. 24, no. 16;
Grand Rapids (Michigan), Grand Rapids Art Gallery, Masterpieces of Dutch art, 1940, no. 16.

C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten Holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, vol. 1, Esslingen 1907, p. 505, no. 115 (as on panel);
C. Brière-Misme, 'Tableaux inedits ou peu connus de Pieter de Hooch', in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1927, p. 273, no. 16;
W.R. Valentiner, Pieter de Hooch : des Meisters Gemälde in 180 Abbildungen mit einem Anhang über die Genremaler um Pieter de Hooch und die Kunst Hendrik van der Burchs, Stuttgart 1929, p. 166, repr. (as on panel);
P.C. Sutton, Pieter de Hooch, Oxford 1980 , pp. 50 and 116, no. 148, reproduced fig. 149 (as circa 1680);
P.C. Sutton, Pieter de Hooch, 1629-1684, London 1998, p. 178, reproduced fig. 2.

To the naked eye: The painting appears in a satisfactory condition. It has been relined, rather stiffly, probably in the 1st half of the 20th century. We notice some thinness in the black (in the coat of the man on the left) and in the brown areas (hair of the man). A retouched old tear(?) of approx. 5 cm. can be observed upper left along the edge. Some thinness in the darker areas of the painted surface as well. Tiny scattered retouchings throughout; some tiny retouched indents visible in the hand of the lady. Under U.V. light : Some strenghtenings and retouchings visible as mentioned above, otherwise a fluorescent varnish layer. Offered with a black veneer wooden frame, in good condition. A l'œil nu : Le tableau se présente dans un état de conservation satisfaisant. Il a fait l'objet d'un rentoilage assez fort, probablement dans la 1ère moitié du XXe siècle. On remarque d'importantes usures dans les noirs (dans le manteau de l'homme à gauche) et les bruns (cheveux de l'homme). On observe une ancienne déchirure restaurée d'environ 5 cm le long du bord supérieur gauche. On remarque également des usures dans les parties sombres de la surface picturale. On observe de petites retouches éparses et de petits points de retouches dans la main de la femme. La surface picturale est couverte d'un fin réseau de craquelures. A la lampe U.V. : On observe les reprises et retouches déjà mentionnées, et un vernis fluorescent. Vendu dans un cadre en placage de bois noir, en bon état.
"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."

A lady feeding a parrot - painted around 1680 close to the end of his life - is without doubt one of Pieter de Hooch's most elegant and engaging surviving works from this period.  As in his earlier years in Delft, the most common subjects of De Hooch's work at this date continued to be domestic interiors such as this.  In contrast with his earlier work, however, these interiors are increasingly grand and the figures within them increasingly fashionably and expensively attired, no doubt reflecting De Hooch's wealthier and more cosmopolitan clientele in Amsterdam.  Here, the mistress of the house, with her elaborate coiffure and richly adorned satin white dress, is shown coaxing a parrot from its cage with fruit rind from a wine glass and watched by her servant and a young man with a dog at his lap seated at a table.  The gently understated poetry of this quiet domestic moment is, as always, underpinned by De Hooch's unrivalled exploration of the effects of space and light and its play upon the texture of different surfaces, like those in the lady's satin dress. De Hooch's pioneering interest in these effects had its origin in his work in Delft in the 1650s, where he knew and influenced Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), and over a decade later in Amsterdam pictures such as this show that he was more than capable of painting works that rival those of his most famous years.  This canvas forms part of a coherent group of works dating from 1670 and thereafter, in which De Hooch concentrated upon the interplay of small groups of two or three figures. The compositional design of light slanting in from a window on the left towards a grand fireplace on the right of the picture is found in many works from this date; in each of these, a richly attired woman accompanied by a maid or another female figure is engaged in simple domestic pleasures or tasks. 

The motif of the pet parrot and its cage was a device which De Hooch seems to have increasingly employed from around 1673 onwards. Although kept simply as exotic pets, parrots did carry certain symbolic meanings in Dutch paintings. Sometimes the bird that escapes its cage was a traditional symbol of lost virginity, but in works such as this it was probably intended more as a symbol of leersucht or educability, particularly when introduced in the presence of children and dogs.

The charm and extraordinary quality of this painting have long been recognized, for it graced some of the most famous collections of the early 19^th and 20^th centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century the painting was in France, appearing in the great Constantin and Pérignon auctions. It was exhibited by Sedelmeyer in 1905 before leaving Europe for a number of years, subsequently being included in the major sale of Baron and Baroness Cassel van Doorn's collection at the Galerie Charpentier in Paris in March 1954; and it has now returned to the Galerie Charpentier after more than 50 years, being presented in the sale of Pierre Bergé From One Home to Another. The masterful treatment of fabrics and the taste for aristocratic detail of these kind of pictures found an echo in the eyes of Yves Saint Laurent, who wanted to 'weave a bond between painting and clothes'. (as discussed in the 2009-sale catalogue; see Yves Saint Laurent, February 2004, in Dialogue avec l'art, exhibition, Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent Foundation).