路德夫·德·翁

With Jacques Leegenhoek, Paris, by 2011;
Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 5 June 2013, lot 68;
Where acquired.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work is painted on an oak panel, with original joins running through the center and upper center. Neither of these joins seems to be active or has shown any sign of weakness. The panel is flat, and the paint later is stable. The painting has been retouched and varnished. Retouches are very sparingly applied in only a few spots in the top half of the picture. There are also a few small isolated retouches across the center. There is a group of retouches in the floor above the onions in the lower right, and another in the floor between the legs of the seated bald gentleman above his right foot. The wall in the lower corner has also been retouched. The work is clearly un-abraded, except possibly in the shirt of the standing figure on the far left. The retouches are carefully applied, and the work should be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

De Jongh was a leading painter in Rotterdam and one of the most versatile painters of his time, producing portraits, landscapes, hunting scenes and genre pictures, such as the present work.  According to his biographer, Arnold Houbraken, he studied with Cornelis Saftleven in Rotterdam, Anthonie Palamedesz. in Delft, and Jan van Bijlert in Utrecht, after which he spent a seven year sojourn in France before returning to Rotterdam in 1643.  He quickly established himself as one of that city’s most important painters, exerting a strong influence on such younger artists as Pieter de Hooch and Jacob Ochtervelt.

Though there is a scarcity of signed works by De Jongh, this painting is prominently signed and dated 1668, making it an important work in determining the artist’s artistic evolution. Lighter in tonality than his earlier interiors, the composition is punctuated throughout by the bright reds of the figures’ various garments and the curtains at left.  The setting appears to be the interior of a tavern or inn, with figures gathered near a blazing fire.  A young maid stands at center holding a jug in her right hand, her left hand on her hip.  She does not interact with the three male figures, but directs her gaze towards the empty chair at left.  An older man seated at center looks out knowingly at the viewer as he lifts his glass, while in the background a grinning young man emerges from a back room with his shirt untucked, implying  that likely more than just drinking by the fire is going on.  In spite of the merrymaking under way, there may be a moralizing message implied by the bunch of turnips depicted at lower right.  In Netherlandish prints and literature of the period a pun was made on the Dutch word for turnip (raap) and the verb to scrounge (rapen), and turnips were sometimes used to signify greedy or distasteful behavior.¹

Infrared reflectography of this painting reveals changes made to the lower left quadrant of the painting, in the area where the figure of the maid is gazing (fig. 1). The outlines of a jug and broom can be seen in the extreme lower left corner, and a draped table with the carcass of a duck, its head hanging limply over the near side of the table, can be seen where the chair is now positioned.

1.  W. Gibson, Figures of speech: picturing proverbs in renaissance Netherlands, Berkeley 2010, pp. 59-60, 74-77.