Willem Kalf (1619-1693)

A maid in a kitchen with a copper pan, a cabbage, gherkins, a pumpkin, utensils in a basket and other objects nearby, a woman seated by a fire beyond

Details
Willem Kalf (1619-1693)
A maid in a kitchen with a copper pan, a cabbage, gherkins, a pumpkin, utensils in a basket and other objects nearby, a woman seated by a fire beyond
oil on panel
36.2 x 27.3 cm
the support is stamped with the panelmaker's mark BM (linked)
Provenance
with Galerie St. Lucas, Vienna
with Julius Bohler, Munich, 1922
with Bohler & Steinmeyer, Luzern, 1923
Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, inv. no.761; Sale, Venduehuis der notarissen, Pulchri The Hague, 9 June 1931, lot 248
Dr. Wilhelm Mautner, Amsterdam
Dr. J.A. van Dongen, Amsterdam, 1948
Literature
R. van Luttervelt, Aanteekeningen over de ontwikkeling van Willem Kalf, Oud Holland (1943), p.62, fig.12
A. Heppner, 'Rotterdam as the Centre of a "Dutch Teniers" Group', Art in America, 1946, fig.12
L.Grisebach, Willem Kalf, 1974, p.231, n.54, fig.56
Exhibited
The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, Verzameling Dr. C. Hofstede de Groot, 16 August-16 September 1930, Cat. III, no.4
Amsterdam, Museum Willet-Holthuysen, 1969, Schilderijen, tekeningen en beeldhouwwerken, 16de-20ste eeuw, uit de verzameling van Dr J.A. van Dongen, 25 April - 16 September 1968, no.13, fig.6

Lot Essay

sold with a certificate by Prof. Dr. W. Vogelsang, dated 28 June 1931

The same panelmaker's mark is found on Kalf's on the support of the picture in the Konstmuseum, Göteborg, inv.n.160, (Grisebach n.58, fig.59) and on his picture in the Institute of Arts, Detroit, inv.n.69.358 (Grisebach, n.29, fig.31)

Circa 1640 the young Kalf arrived in Paris where he joined a Flemish group of still life painters. He remained in the city until 1646 specialising in barn interiors, of which Grisebach has listed 58 examples. They all are small scale panels depicting the dark interiors lit with strong light coming from top left and falling on the still life elements in the foreground.

Grisebach has compared the present picture to four other interiors (with Dr. J.A. van Dongen, Amsterdam, 1948; Grisebach, n.55. plate 57; in the collection J. Frederiks on loan to the Boymans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam; Grisebach n.55, plate 57; Musée da le Ville St Lô; Grisebach n.56, plate 62; Museum in Göteborg; Grisebach, n.57, plate 58), which he tentatively dates to 1644 on the basis of comparison with the picture of a peasant woman on a farmyard, signed and dated 1644 (Grisebach, n.53, plate 55).

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