Jan Josefsz. van Goyen (Leiden 1596-1656 The Hague)

Design for a title page: Heraclitus and Democritus leaning over a table with a globe flanked by an owl and a monkey

Details

Jan Josefsz. van Goyen (Leiden 1596-1656 The Hague)
Design for a title page: Heraclitus and Democritus leaning over a table with a globe flanked by an owl and a monkey
signed, dated and inscribed 'I.V. GOIEN A^o 1623 den.24.September' (strengthened in brown ink)
black chalk, black chalk framing lines, partial watermark Strasburg lily
4 3/8 x 6 3/8 in. (11.1 x 16.4 cm.)

Provenance

Gerard Meijer, Abbenbroek, 1977.
L. Houthakker (L. 3893).
Anonymous sale; Christie's, Amsterdam, 11 November 1996, lot 82.

Literature

H.-U. Beck, Jan van Goyen 1596-1656, Doornspijk, 1987, III, p. 39, no. 55B, ill.
P. Fuhring, Design into art, drawings for architecture and ornament, the Lodewijk Houthakker Collection, London, 1989, II, p. 760, no. 1100, ill.

Exhibited

Amsterdam, Kunsthandel Gebr. Douwes, Esaias van de Velde/Jan van Goyen, 1981, no. 14.

Lot Essay

This sheet is perhaps van Goyen's earliest dated drawing from when he was working in Leiden. The beach scene beneath the table is also included in a painting dated 1623. Heraclitus and Democritus, shown at either side of the table, were two pre-Socratic philosophers who are often depicted together because of their opposite reaction to the absurdity of the human condition: the first, laughing, and the latter sad and teary eyed. The drawing was probably done for a Liber Amicorum.

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