Venus and Cupid

In the 1999 sale, J.R. Judson considered the present painting to be an autograph work by Honthorst on the basis of a color transparency and included it as such in his catalogue raisonné of that year. Although the composition was previously unknown to him, Judson noted the reference to a picture of Venus and Cupid in the inventory of Cornelis van der Voort's estate (dated 13 May 1625), which Honthorst gave to his students to copy (see N. De Roever, ‘Drie Amsterdamsche Schilders (Pieter Isaaksz, Abraham Vinck, Corneos van der Voort)’, Oud Holland, III, 1885, pp. 196, 198). More recent scholarship has not sustained Judson's high appraisal of the painting.

This picture may instead be one such studio version of van der Voort's painting, but the lack of dimensions or support in his 1625 estate inventory preclude a firm identification. However, the existence of a second version of this composition (Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem) – successively attributed to Honthorst himself, Caesar van Everdingen and, most recently, Roeloff van Zijl – would appear to make the suggestion all-the-more likely.