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拍品专文
The two signatures and dates have been examined by U.C.L. Painting Analysis Ltd. and both are considered 'contemporary with the painting'. Why there are two Neeffs signatures on the painting can only be a matter for speculation.
The view through the door is of the wharf at Antwerp with the wooden crane dating from the middle of the sixteenth century; this is clearly depicted in a view by Sebastian Vrancx of circa 1616-18, see catalogue of the exhibition, Antwerp Story of a Metropolis 16th - 17th Century, Hessenhuis, Antwerp, 1993, no. 170. Several inventories of Antwerp collections in the 1650s listed pictures in a room, described, for instance, as the 'neercamere comende aende strate' (see J. Denuc, Inventare vom Kunstsammlungen zu Antwerpen im 16. u. 17 Jahrhundert, 1932, Antwerp, p. 131; see also pp. 155, 158 and 174).
The imposing room is lit by three rows of windows, the lower two rows being fitted with shutters; in the centre of the far wall is a fireplace flanked by two marble Ionic columns resting on plinths topped by a richly carved wooden mantelpiece en suite with the cornice. On the left is a triumphal-arch doorway displaying a coat of arms (see below) in a richly fretted cartouche, flanked by trussed pilasters, surmounted by festive satyr- and nymph-herms and a rich, ribbon-scrolled pediment in the manner of Hans Vredeman de Vries (d. 1604). Above is a double wooden cornice, the upper supported by satyr-bust-trusses. The ceiling is made of wooden beams with a richly decorated chimney-piece cove stuccoed in the Gothic manner.
The furniture consists of leather upholstered chairs and a draped table; on the marbled hearth are two elaborately-wrought brass fire-dogs; in the fireplace is a brass boughpot. On the far left is a harpsichord, which was presumably made by the Ruckers family, or by Ioannes Ruckers' son-in-law, Ioannes Couchet, who took over the business on Ruckers' death in 1642. These were expensive instruments to buy and maintain (see G. O'Brien in the catalogue of the exhibition, Antwerp Story of a Metropolis, etc., p. 351). The lid is in two parts, that to cover the keyboard is painted with a Judgement of Midas in the manner of Hendrick van Balen (?), a similar upright painting is on the lid of the harpsichord in the interior by Coques sold at Sotheby's, 3 December 1969, lot 68. The other painting shows a peasant couple dancing to a bagpiper in the manner of David Teniers II (?).
The paintings on the walls are all in ebonized frames; reading from the left: an indeterminate landscape, then a Wooded landscape in the style of Jacques d'Arthois(?); beneath is A stormy seascape with a Dutch merchantman(?) offshore in the style of Bonaventura Peeters. On the far wall is A wooded landscape with a sarcophagus; beneath is a Boar hunt in the style of Frans Snyders, cf. The wild boar hunt in the Museum Narodowe, Poznan (for which see H. Robels, Frans Snyders, etc., Augsburg, 1989, p. 324, no. 231 , fig. 223, p. 325); a similar painting appears to the left of the central arch in Coques's Picture gallery of 1671 in the Mauritshuis, for which see Speth-Holterhoff, op. cit., fig. 68; beneath is a Church interior looking north-east along the nave, cf. a number of paintings (usually with an organ on the wall of the nave, centre) by Pieter Neefs I or II, and/or the studio, of which one is in the Prado, no. 1604, for which see M. Diaz Padrn, El Siglo de Rubens en el Museo del Prado, etc, II, Madrid, 1995, p. 776, a variant of which, said to be signed and dated 1651, was in the Loevenich sale, Helbing, Munich, 18 April 1912, lot 805; above the fireplace is Rinaldo and Armida, perhaps the painting by Sir Anthony van Dyck in the Baltimore Museum of Art, see below; to the right is an Italianate landscape with a peasant and a church set above classical ruins; below is A vanitas (?) of two children with an oil lamp (?) set in a cartouche decorated with fruit, which is signed by van Son, the children are in the style of Erasmus Quellinus II (?), see de Bruyn, loc. cit., (where the subject is described as the Madonna and Child with the Magdalen).
The present work is notable as the only extant, domestic interior signed by Pieter Neefs. In 1650 the father and eponymous son were both alive; their styles are closely similar, and it is impossible to state whose work this is. The artist was no doubt responsible for the mise en scne, but not the paintings or figures; this raises the intriguing possibility that Pieter Neefs I and/or his studio was responsible for other, earlier settings of 'gallery interiors'. It seems likely that the paintings displayed and the figures were added soon after the execution of the interior. The costumes suggest a date of execution in the 1650s. In spite of the stiffness of the adult spectators the figures may be thought to be typical of Coques, and it is noteworthy that the dog recurs in the so-called Verbiest Family (The Royal Collection) of 1664. How many artists, in addition to Joris van Son, helped in the execution of the paintings it is not possible to say. The two large landscapes on the far wall are reminiscent of the idiom to be developed by Gaspar de Witte (1624-1681), who only returned from Italy in 1651 when he became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke.
While the present work can be classed in the tradition of Antwerp gallery interiors, it seems likely that a specific social event has been recorded by Coques. In this century the painting has been called La Rception du Fianc, by which it can be inferred that the gentleman being greeted is betrothed to the young woman standing by the fireplace. This may or may not be true. What at least seems clear is that, the visitors apart, an extended family is depicted: three brothers (?), of whom one is married with a young child; of the two others, one may be the father of the young woman and young man greeting the new arrivals. The elderly lady at the harpsichord is presumably the grandmother. Notable is the absence of servants.
The depiction of the coat of arms above the door is likely to be a specific reference to the identity of the family that owned the house and that is assembled in the room. Speth-Holterhoff found that in the collection of the chevalier Jean-Baptiste Anthoine of Antwerp (d. 1687), there was listed a group portrait of the family by 'Gonzael', a storm by Bonaventura Peeters, a Boar hunt, and a sketch of Rinaldo and Armida by van Dyck, but the Anthoine coat of arms differs from that depicted and exhibited is an over-life or life-size Rinaldo and Armida. The coat of arms still remains unidentified, although Mr Francis Duquenne, whose help along with that of Mr Thierry de Neuville, is gratefully acknowledged, believes it could possibly be that of the Antwerp family, de Witte de Leeverghem, although there are some differences in the colours.
The family could recently have acquired the Rinaldo and Armida by van Dyck, which had been commissioned by Endymion Porter for King Charles I in 1629. It was sold by the Trustees for sale of the late King's Goods on 27 October 1649 to Colonel William Webb. The picture is just under 8 foot tall (circa 2.40m.); clearly the rendering of the picture is not exactly to scale, but its height is not much greater than that of the young woman, and thus it could be that reproduced is not the Baltimore picture, as Wheelock in the Washington 1990 catalogue believed, but the reduced version at Potsdam.
The view through the door is of the wharf at Antwerp with the wooden crane dating from the middle of the sixteenth century; this is clearly depicted in a view by Sebastian Vrancx of circa 1616-18, see catalogue of the exhibition, Antwerp Story of a Metropolis 16th - 17th Century, Hessenhuis, Antwerp, 1993, no. 170. Several inventories of Antwerp collections in the 1650s listed pictures in a room, described, for instance, as the 'neercamere comende aende strate' (see J. Denuc, Inventare vom Kunstsammlungen zu Antwerpen im 16. u. 17 Jahrhundert, 1932, Antwerp, p. 131; see also pp. 155, 158 and 174).
The imposing room is lit by three rows of windows, the lower two rows being fitted with shutters; in the centre of the far wall is a fireplace flanked by two marble Ionic columns resting on plinths topped by a richly carved wooden mantelpiece en suite with the cornice. On the left is a triumphal-arch doorway displaying a coat of arms (see below) in a richly fretted cartouche, flanked by trussed pilasters, surmounted by festive satyr- and nymph-herms and a rich, ribbon-scrolled pediment in the manner of Hans Vredeman de Vries (d. 1604). Above is a double wooden cornice, the upper supported by satyr-bust-trusses. The ceiling is made of wooden beams with a richly decorated chimney-piece cove stuccoed in the Gothic manner.
The furniture consists of leather upholstered chairs and a draped table; on the marbled hearth are two elaborately-wrought brass fire-dogs; in the fireplace is a brass boughpot. On the far left is a harpsichord, which was presumably made by the Ruckers family, or by Ioannes Ruckers' son-in-law, Ioannes Couchet, who took over the business on Ruckers' death in 1642. These were expensive instruments to buy and maintain (see G. O'Brien in the catalogue of the exhibition, Antwerp Story of a Metropolis, etc., p. 351). The lid is in two parts, that to cover the keyboard is painted with a Judgement of Midas in the manner of Hendrick van Balen (?), a similar upright painting is on the lid of the harpsichord in the interior by Coques sold at Sotheby's, 3 December 1969, lot 68. The other painting shows a peasant couple dancing to a bagpiper in the manner of David Teniers II (?).
The paintings on the walls are all in ebonized frames; reading from the left: an indeterminate landscape, then a Wooded landscape in the style of Jacques d'Arthois(?); beneath is A stormy seascape with a Dutch merchantman(?) offshore in the style of Bonaventura Peeters. On the far wall is A wooded landscape with a sarcophagus; beneath is a Boar hunt in the style of Frans Snyders, cf. The wild boar hunt in the Museum Narodowe, Poznan (for which see H. Robels, Frans Snyders, etc., Augsburg, 1989, p. 324, no. 231 , fig. 223, p. 325); a similar painting appears to the left of the central arch in Coques's Picture gallery of 1671 in the Mauritshuis, for which see Speth-Holterhoff, op. cit., fig. 68; beneath is a Church interior looking north-east along the nave, cf. a number of paintings (usually with an organ on the wall of the nave, centre) by Pieter Neefs I or II, and/or the studio, of which one is in the Prado, no. 1604, for which see M. Diaz Padrn, El Siglo de Rubens en el Museo del Prado, etc, II, Madrid, 1995, p. 776, a variant of which, said to be signed and dated 1651, was in the Loevenich sale, Helbing, Munich, 18 April 1912, lot 805; above the fireplace is Rinaldo and Armida, perhaps the painting by Sir Anthony van Dyck in the Baltimore Museum of Art, see below; to the right is an Italianate landscape with a peasant and a church set above classical ruins; below is A vanitas (?) of two children with an oil lamp (?) set in a cartouche decorated with fruit, which is signed by van Son, the children are in the style of Erasmus Quellinus II (?), see de Bruyn, loc. cit., (where the subject is described as the Madonna and Child with the Magdalen).
The present work is notable as the only extant, domestic interior signed by Pieter Neefs. In 1650 the father and eponymous son were both alive; their styles are closely similar, and it is impossible to state whose work this is. The artist was no doubt responsible for the mise en scne, but not the paintings or figures; this raises the intriguing possibility that Pieter Neefs I and/or his studio was responsible for other, earlier settings of 'gallery interiors'. It seems likely that the paintings displayed and the figures were added soon after the execution of the interior. The costumes suggest a date of execution in the 1650s. In spite of the stiffness of the adult spectators the figures may be thought to be typical of Coques, and it is noteworthy that the dog recurs in the so-called Verbiest Family (The Royal Collection) of 1664. How many artists, in addition to Joris van Son, helped in the execution of the paintings it is not possible to say. The two large landscapes on the far wall are reminiscent of the idiom to be developed by Gaspar de Witte (1624-1681), who only returned from Italy in 1651 when he became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke.
While the present work can be classed in the tradition of Antwerp gallery interiors, it seems likely that a specific social event has been recorded by Coques. In this century the painting has been called La Rception du Fianc, by which it can be inferred that the gentleman being greeted is betrothed to the young woman standing by the fireplace. This may or may not be true. What at least seems clear is that, the visitors apart, an extended family is depicted: three brothers (?), of whom one is married with a young child; of the two others, one may be the father of the young woman and young man greeting the new arrivals. The elderly lady at the harpsichord is presumably the grandmother. Notable is the absence of servants.
The depiction of the coat of arms above the door is likely to be a specific reference to the identity of the family that owned the house and that is assembled in the room. Speth-Holterhoff found that in the collection of the chevalier Jean-Baptiste Anthoine of Antwerp (d. 1687), there was listed a group portrait of the family by 'Gonzael', a storm by Bonaventura Peeters, a Boar hunt, and a sketch of Rinaldo and Armida by van Dyck, but the Anthoine coat of arms differs from that depicted and exhibited is an over-life or life-size Rinaldo and Armida. The coat of arms still remains unidentified, although Mr Francis Duquenne, whose help along with that of Mr Thierry de Neuville, is gratefully acknowledged, believes it could possibly be that of the Antwerp family, de Witte de Leeverghem, although there are some differences in the colours.
The family could recently have acquired the Rinaldo and Armida by van Dyck, which had been commissioned by Endymion Porter for King Charles I in 1629. It was sold by the Trustees for sale of the late King's Goods on 27 October 1649 to Colonel William Webb. The picture is just under 8 foot tall (circa 2.40m.); clearly the rendering of the picture is not exactly to scale, but its height is not much greater than that of the young woman, and thus it could be that reproduced is not the Baltimore picture, as Wheelock in the Washington 1990 catalogue believed, but the reduced version at Potsdam.