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Lot Essay
The prototype is in the Art Institute of Chicago (J. López-Rey, Velazquez, the artist as a maker, Lausanne-Paris, 1979, pp. 218-9, no. 18) which is an autograph replica but without the Supper at Emmaus in the background, of the painting formerly in the Beit collection, and now in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (op. cit., pp. 216-7, no. 17).
There are several reasons that suggest this picture was painted by a northern artist: the smaller dimensions of the painting indicating it was executed from a print or watercolour, the insertion of an oyster shell on the table, and the reinterpretation of the clove of garlic as a shell. It has been suggested that it could be by the hand of Michael Sweerts or from his studio; Sweerts and Velasquez were in Rome at the same time, as members of the Academy, and it is generally assumed that the Spanish master influenced the Dutchman considerably. The handling of the maid's face and of the fabric on the turban are characteristic of Sweerts and his circle.
We are grateful to Lindsey Shaw-Miller for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.
There are several reasons that suggest this picture was painted by a northern artist: the smaller dimensions of the painting indicating it was executed from a print or watercolour, the insertion of an oyster shell on the table, and the reinterpretation of the clove of garlic as a shell. It has been suggested that it could be by the hand of Michael Sweerts or from his studio; Sweerts and Velasquez were in Rome at the same time, as members of the Academy, and it is generally assumed that the Spanish master influenced the Dutchman considerably. The handling of the maid's face and of the fabric on the turban are characteristic of Sweerts and his circle.
We are grateful to Lindsey Shaw-Miller for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.