JAN PORCELLIS (GHENT 1584-1632 ZOUTERWOUDE)
JAN PORCELLIS (GHENT 1584-1632 ZOUTERWOUDE)
Jan Porcellis (Ghent 1584-1632 Zouterwoude)
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This lot is offered without reserve.
JAN PORCELLIS (GHENT 1584-1632 ZOUTERWOUDE)

A damlooper and rowboat in a choppy sea by a jetty

Details
JAN PORCELLIS (GHENT 1584-1632 ZOUTERWOUDE)
A damlooper and rowboat in a choppy sea by a jetty
signed with initials ‘IP’ (lower left, on the rowboat)
oil on panel
18 ¼ x 24 ¾ in. (46.4 x 62.9 cm.)
Provenance
Private collection, The Netherlands.
Private collection, Switzerland.
with Alfred Brod Ltd., London, where acquired by the present owner in 1991.
Literature
P.C. Sutton, The Martin and Kathleen Feldstein Collection, privately published, 2020, pp. 52-53, no. 12, illustrated, as Julius Porcellis.
Exhibited
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Prized Possessions: European Paintings from Private Collections of Friends of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 17 June-16 August 1992, no. 114.
Special notice
This lot is offered without reserve.

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Lot Essay

In recent years, there has been some undue confusion as to whether this painting is by Jan Porcellis or his son Julius, with Peter Sutton having recently published it as a work by the latter (loc. cit.). The difficulty distinguishing between the two Porcellis’ work – both artists signed using their initials – was recognized early on. In his biography on Jan, Arnold Houbraken noted that Julius ‘came so close to [his father] in art that they are often confused, all the more because like his father, he wrote J. P. under his works’ (A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, I, Amsterdam, 1718, pp. 213-214). On account of the present painting's similarities with works like An estuary in stormy weather (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam) and Sailboats in an estuary (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux), both of which date to circa 1630 and are by the elder Porcellis, it can likewise be given to him.
We are grateful to Dr. John Walsh for suggesting the attribution on the basis of photographs.

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