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Lot Essay
Though the identity of the sitter in the present portrait is unknown, his black doublet with a fur-lined collar and his simple, flat hat indicate that he was a man of means, perhaps a successful merchant. Heemskerck excelled at portraiture, capturing his sitters’ likenesses with a robust vitality and inventing a variety of seemingly spontaneous poses. Here, the gentleman appears to address someone who would be standing just to the viewer’s right. To this end, he has removed the glove from his right hand, presenting a folded piece of paper. Groshans compares this expressive portrait to Heemskerck's Portrait of John Colmannus, dated 1538, and his Portrait of a man in Windescheim, concluding that the present work should be dated around 1540 (loc. cit.).
Christie’s is honored to bring to sale two lots, including the present painting and lot 181, on be half of the heir of Jacques Goudstikker.
Jacques Goudstikker joined the family art business in 1919, the gallery having been established by his grandfather Jacob in the middle of the previous century. In the following two decades, Jacques’ vision led the gallery to a central position in the art market for Old Master paintings, both in Amsterdam and internationally. His commercial and curatorial leadership, as seen in his ambitious catalogue designs and his themed exhibitions, influenced major collectors like Daniel G. van Beuningen and Heinrich Baron Thyssen Bornemisza and he worked to enhance museum collections at the Mauritshuis, the Rijksmuseum, the Kunsthistorische Museum, Vienna, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, to name a few.
Known as an avid arts enthusiast, Jacques enjoyed a diverse and artistic network of friends and clients. In 1937, he married the Viennese singer Désirée (Dési) von Halban Kurz (1912-1996), their only child, Eduard (Edo), was born shortly after in 1939. But Jacques’ personal and professional success came to an abrupt stop in May 1940. A few days after the German invasion, before the German occupation of The Netherlands, Jacques, who was Jewish, fled with his family, boarding one of the last available ships to safety. His life was cut tragically short during their escape to England when he died as a result of a fall onboard.
Research into the Goudstikker collection and gallery inventory left behind in The Netherlands – an estimated 1,400 artworks taken over in Jacques’ absence by Alois Miedl and Hermann Göring – has been a commitment over twenty-five years by his heir to Jacques’ legacy and at the forefront of present-day restitution efforts.
Christie’s is honored to bring to sale two lots, including the present painting and lot 181, on be half of the heir of Jacques Goudstikker.
Jacques Goudstikker joined the family art business in 1919, the gallery having been established by his grandfather Jacob in the middle of the previous century. In the following two decades, Jacques’ vision led the gallery to a central position in the art market for Old Master paintings, both in Amsterdam and internationally. His commercial and curatorial leadership, as seen in his ambitious catalogue designs and his themed exhibitions, influenced major collectors like Daniel G. van Beuningen and Heinrich Baron Thyssen Bornemisza and he worked to enhance museum collections at the Mauritshuis, the Rijksmuseum, the Kunsthistorische Museum, Vienna, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, to name a few.
Known as an avid arts enthusiast, Jacques enjoyed a diverse and artistic network of friends and clients. In 1937, he married the Viennese singer Désirée (Dési) von Halban Kurz (1912-1996), their only child, Eduard (Edo), was born shortly after in 1939. But Jacques’ personal and professional success came to an abrupt stop in May 1940. A few days after the German invasion, before the German occupation of The Netherlands, Jacques, who was Jewish, fled with his family, boarding one of the last available ships to safety. His life was cut tragically short during their escape to England when he died as a result of a fall onboard.
Research into the Goudstikker collection and gallery inventory left behind in The Netherlands – an estimated 1,400 artworks taken over in Jacques’ absence by Alois Miedl and Hermann Göring – has been a commitment over twenty-five years by his heir to Jacques’ legacy and at the forefront of present-day restitution efforts.