JACOB ADRIAENSZ. BACKER (HARLINGEN 1608-1651 AMSTERDAM)
JACOB ADRIAENSZ. BACKER (HARLINGEN 1608-1651 AMSTERDAM)
JACOB ADRIAENSZ. BACKER (HARLINGEN 1608-1651 AMSTERDAM)
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Property from a New York Collection
JACOB ADRIAENSZ. BACKER (HARLINGEN 1608-1651 AMSTERDAM)

Vertumnus and Pomona

Details
JACOB ADRIAENSZ. BACKER (HARLINGEN 1608-1651 AMSTERDAM)
Vertumnus and Pomona
oil on canvas
51 7⁄8 x 42 ¼ in. (131.5 x 107.3 cm.)
Provenance
Jacob Cromhout (1651-1708), Amsterdam; his deceased sale, 7-8 May 1709, lot 164.
Sir Vivyan Naylor-Leland (1924-1987), 3rd Baronet, Nantclwyd Hall, Llanelidan, Wales; his sale, Christie's, London, 17 May 1957, lot 25, as F. Bol, 130 gns. to the following,
with Gallery St. Lucas, The Hague.
Private collection, The Netherlands.
with Jan Six Fine Art, Amsterdam, where acquired by the present owner.
Literature
K. Bauch, Jakob Adriaensz Backer: ein Rembrandtschüler aus Friesland, Berlin, 1926, p. 80, no. 54.
W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrant-Schüler, I, London, 1983, pp. 137, 194, 203, and 215, no. 12, illustrated; III, p. 1779; VI, pp. 3589 and 3690.
J. Bruyn, 'Boekbespreking: Werner Sumoski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, I,' Oud Holland, XCVIII, 1984, pp. 150-151, fig. 1.
E.J. Sluijter, De 'Heydensche Fabulen' in de Noordnederlandse shilderkunst circa 1590-1670. Een proeve van beshrijving en interpretatie van schilderijen met verhalende onderwerpen uit de klassieke mythologue, Ph.D. dissertation, Rijksuniversiteit, Leiden, 1986, pp. 113, 117-118, fig. 164.
W. Sumowski, 'Paintings by Jan van Noordt,' The Hoogsteder-Nauman Mercury, III, 1986, pp. 23 and 36, note 24.
D. Coeklberghs, Maîtres anciens du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1990, pp. 58, fig. 2, note 6.
P. van den Brink, et al., Het gedroomde land. Pastorale schilderkunst in de gouden eeuw, Utrecht and Luxemburg, 1993, p. 94, note 5, pp. 95 and 98, note 6.
P. van den Brink, 'David geeft Uria de brief voor Joab: Niet Govert Flinck maar Jacob Backer,' Oud Holland, CXI, 1997, pp. 184 and 186, note 45.
(Probably) S. Zwerver, Louis Vallee, zijn leven en zijn werk, Ph.D. dissertation, Rijksuniversitet, Groningen, 1997, p. 37, no. 32.
D.A. de Witt, Jan van Noordt (1624-after 1676): '...famous history- and portrait-painter in Amsterdam', Ph.D. dissertation, Queen's University, Kingston, 2000, pp. 59 and 74, note 26, fig. 8.
E.J. Sluijter, De 'heydensche fabulen' in de schilderkunst van de Gouden Eeuw. Schilderijen met verhalennde onderwerpen uit de klassieke mythologie in de Noordlijke Nederlanden circa 1590-1670, Leiden, 2000, pp. 71, 73, 152, and 248, note 31; p. 249, note 38; pp. 250-251, notes 53 and 54; p. 482, fig. 232.
W. Liedtke, 'Women with Pearl Earrings: On Paintings Apparently by Carel Fabritius, in Hannover, Vaduz and Amsterdam,' Oud Holland, CXIX, 2006, p. 128, note 26.
D. A. de Witt, The Bader Collection: Dutch and Flemish Paintings, The Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, 2008, p. 54, note 7.
P. van den Brink and J. van der Veen, Jacob Backer (1608⁄9-1651), exhibition catalogue, Zwolle, 2008, p. 51 and 224, fig. 46, no. A59.

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Lot Essay

Jacob Backer was one of the most sought after portraitists in Amsterdam in the 1630s and 40s, renowned for his spontaneous approach and colorful palette. He completed important group portrait commissions for the governesses of the civic orphanage in Amsterdam (Amsterdam Museum, inv. no. SB 4844), the governors of the Nieuwezijds Huiszittenhuis (Outdoor Poor Relief Board, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. SK-C-442), and for the Militia Company of Capt. Cornelis de Graeff and Lt. Hendrick Lawrensz., the pendant for which is Rembrandt's The Nightwatch (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. SK-C-1174). At the height of his career as a portraitst, he also developed an interest in history painting, although the chronology of these works is unclear as none are dated. The present painting relates to Backer's composition of Granida and Dafilio (The Hermitage, St. Petersburg). Here the pastoral figure of Ganida is reversed. The young Pomona is shown here at the moment Vertumnus arrives in guise of an old woman.

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