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Lot Essay
This rare and remarkably preserved group family portrait is one of only two known works by the seventeenth century portraitist Dirck Carbasius. The artist registered as a master at the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke in 1646 before purchasing a brewery January 1651, an enterprise which appears to have significantly occupied his subsequent time, distracting him from his practice as a painter, and later moving to Hoorn in 1670. The only other picture by Carbasius known today is the Portrait of a Woman dated 1640, now in the Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Oldenburg, which like the present picture is prominently signed ‘T[heodorus]. Carbasius’, a commonly formalised version of the name Dirck.
This impressive group portrait shows the influence of Carbasius’ time in Haarlem. The arrangement of the figures, grouped to the left of the composition, is reminiscent of similar family portraits by the famed Haarlem master Frans Hals (1582-1666), like that of A Family Group in a Landscape in the National Gallery, London. Features of the sitters’ clothes, such as the remarkably vivid blue silk of the young girl’s skirt, likewise recall Hals’ virtuoso treatment of similar lustrous materials, while the handling of fabrics echo other leading portraitists working in the Dutch Republic like Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-1670). In his 1928 publication on the work, Bredius praised especially the skillful depiction of the dogs, concluding that he ‘could not identify an animal painter in Haarlem’ capable of portraying them as masterfully as Carbasius (op.cit.).
Family portraits of this type became increasingly popular in Dutch painting during the 1640s. Depicting elegantly dressed figures in extensive landscape settings, these works often contained trophies of the hunt. The emergence of an increasingly wealthy middle class in Holland during the seventeenth century saw the rapid adoption of modes of dress and behavior associated with the nobility. The purchase of country estates, which also often comprised the acquisition of lordly titles and hunting rights, became a common and conspicuous sign of gentrification amongst the monied bourgeoisie. As a consequence, patrons such as this sought to have themselves represented in their new social positions, here at ease in their country seat and dressed at the height of fashion, with the attributes of the hunt arranged around them, all designed to accentuate their newly acquired aristocratic status.
The present work is being offered for sale pursuant to an agreement between the consignor and the heirs of Galerie van Diemen & Co GmbH. This resolves any dispute over ownership of the work and title will pass to the buyer.
This impressive group portrait shows the influence of Carbasius’ time in Haarlem. The arrangement of the figures, grouped to the left of the composition, is reminiscent of similar family portraits by the famed Haarlem master Frans Hals (1582-1666), like that of A Family Group in a Landscape in the National Gallery, London. Features of the sitters’ clothes, such as the remarkably vivid blue silk of the young girl’s skirt, likewise recall Hals’ virtuoso treatment of similar lustrous materials, while the handling of fabrics echo other leading portraitists working in the Dutch Republic like Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-1670). In his 1928 publication on the work, Bredius praised especially the skillful depiction of the dogs, concluding that he ‘could not identify an animal painter in Haarlem’ capable of portraying them as masterfully as Carbasius (op.cit.).
Family portraits of this type became increasingly popular in Dutch painting during the 1640s. Depicting elegantly dressed figures in extensive landscape settings, these works often contained trophies of the hunt. The emergence of an increasingly wealthy middle class in Holland during the seventeenth century saw the rapid adoption of modes of dress and behavior associated with the nobility. The purchase of country estates, which also often comprised the acquisition of lordly titles and hunting rights, became a common and conspicuous sign of gentrification amongst the monied bourgeoisie. As a consequence, patrons such as this sought to have themselves represented in their new social positions, here at ease in their country seat and dressed at the height of fashion, with the attributes of the hunt arranged around them, all designed to accentuate their newly acquired aristocratic status.
The present work is being offered for sale pursuant to an agreement between the consignor and the heirs of Galerie van Diemen & Co GmbH. This resolves any dispute over ownership of the work and title will pass to the buyer.