Where are the pigeons?: the pretty bird

In 1875 Blommers submitted a panel, titled 'Where are the pigeons?', with a comparable composition to the 'Tentoonstelling van Leevende Meesters', where it was enthousiastically received. The critic Van Santen Kolff wrote: 'A true, cosy fireside poetry that emanates from this intimate scene! How unpretentious, how poetic in it's intimacy of sentiment and its honesty. This is always the impression made by a work of art that has been felt by its creator, not made'. In 1892 the artcritic Van Duyl considered it to be 'one of Blommers's best pieces [...] tout á fait charmant', and Philip Zilcken described it as 'one of Blommers's first major successes.' The original panel has disappeared. In addition to that Blommers made several versions of this composition encouraged by it's success, of which the present lot is a marvelous example. One art-critic even spoke of his 'dove period' (see: Fred Leeman and Hanna Pennock, Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings Museum Mesdag, Amsterdam 1996, p. 102).

Please compare to a similar painting in oil in the collection of the Museum Mesdag, The Hague, titled 'Where are the pigeons?' (22 x 15.8 cm.) dated 1875.