A Lute Player

Details

Hendrick Terbrugghen* (1587-1629)
A Lute Player
oil on canvas
40¾ x 32¾in. (103.5 x 83.2cm.)

Provenance

Duc de Treviso, Paris.
Jacques Dubourg, Paris, 1938.
Richard Lebel, Paris, 1940.
with Julius H. Weitzner, New York.
Morris Kaplan, Chicago.

Literature

The Sphere, November 22, 1939.
J. Shapley, More Masters at the Fair, Parnassus, 1940, p. 11.
B. Nicolson, Hendrick Terbrugghen, 1958, p. 110, no. B78, pl. 37a under 'Doubtful works' and stating 'Not knowing this picture except from a poor photograph, I cannot say if it is an original or copy of a lost work, but that it is one or the other is unquestionable'.
B. Nicolson, The International Caravaggesque Movement, 1979, p. 99. B. Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe, ed. L. Vertova, 1990, I, p. 193.

Exhibited

New York World's Fair, 1940.
Chicago Art Institute, 1961.
Baltimore Art Museum, 1961.
Dayton Art Institute and Baltimore Museum of Art, Hendrick Terbrugghen in America, 1965-6 (catalogue by Leonard Slatkes), no. 7, illustrated as a replica by Terbrugghen and studio.

Lot Essay

Nicolson, op. cit., 1958, was initially uncommitted on the attribution to Terbrugghen, not having seen the original at that time. However, in a later handwritten note in a copy of his 1958 catalogue raisonné on Terbrugghen (sold with this lot), he writes 'This is certainly an original, but I would say there was another and perhaps even better signed version that is lost. In other words, I suggest this is an autograph replica. Benedict Nicolson, 9.X.61.' Another studio version is in the Musée at Boulogne-sur-mer (see A. Hoog, in Revue des Arts, 1960, pp. 267-78, fig. 6).

A degree of studio participation may be considered.