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拍品专文
This hitherto unknown painting is an important addition to the early work by Lievens; it is to be dated to circa 1625 and compared with the young man playing the violin in the Stedelijk Museum Lakenkal, Leyden (Christie's London, 7 July 1995, lot 58, with ill.) and a young man blowing on a torch in the National Museum, Warsaw (R. Klessmann, Jan Lievens, ein Maler im Schatten Rembrandts, exh. cat., Brunswick, 1979, pp.50/1, no7, with ill.).
Both in subject and in style the present lot shows Lievens' indebtedness to the Utrecht Caravaggist painters, most notably Hendrick Terbrugghen, who painted a scene of mercenary love in the early 1620's (Claes Philip Collection, Stockholm; B. Wind, "Close Encounters of the Baroque Kind: Amatori Paintings by Terbrugghen, Baburen and La Tour" in Studies in Iconography, IV, 1978, p.118, fig. 3). However, in contrast to Terbrugghen, Lievens chose to depict his couple with frank directness. The brushwork has an Antwerp freedom and the figures fill the pictorial space.
As pointed out by Wind, op. cit., pp.115/6, the theme of the couple embracing comes from a long northern European pictorial and literary tradition of ill-matched couples, that began in the late Middle Ages with the engravings of the Hausbuchmeister and Israhel van Meckenem. It became especially popular in 16th century Antwerp under the influence of Erasmus's Praise of Folly, and notably through Jan Massys' various interpretations, for which see K. Renger, "Alte Liebe, gleich und ungleich" in Netherlandish Mannerism, Stockholm, 1985, pp.35-46. The present lot connects in particular with Adriaen Matham's engraving (Holl.3; E. de Jongh, G. Luyten, Spiegel van Alledag, 1997, p.172, under no31, fig. 1) after Hendrick Goltzius' painting of 1615, offered at Sotheby's London, 5 July 1995,lot 19, with ill.
Lievens was a prodigy and by 1625 his reputation was already well established. In circa 1626 he had settled in Leyden as an independent painter in 1621 after an apprenticeship with Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. Shortly after the present picture was painted, Lievens came into contact with the young Rembrandt. Both artists were soon discovered by Constantyn Huygens, Prince Frederik Hendrik's secretary. Huygens described their art in his autobiography of circa 1630. He observed that while Rembrandt's pictures showed deep psychological expression in the figures, Lievens' art was to be praised for his daring compositions (audaca argumenta), in which he showed a predilection for forms on a large scale (formarum superbia magnitudo). Such observations are of particular relevance for the present painting.
Both in subject and in style the present lot shows Lievens' indebtedness to the Utrecht Caravaggist painters, most notably Hendrick Terbrugghen, who painted a scene of mercenary love in the early 1620's (Claes Philip Collection, Stockholm; B. Wind, "Close Encounters of the Baroque Kind: Amatori Paintings by Terbrugghen, Baburen and La Tour" in Studies in Iconography, IV, 1978, p.118, fig. 3). However, in contrast to Terbrugghen, Lievens chose to depict his couple with frank directness. The brushwork has an Antwerp freedom and the figures fill the pictorial space.
As pointed out by Wind, op. cit., pp.115/6, the theme of the couple embracing comes from a long northern European pictorial and literary tradition of ill-matched couples, that began in the late Middle Ages with the engravings of the Hausbuchmeister and Israhel van Meckenem. It became especially popular in 16th century Antwerp under the influence of Erasmus's Praise of Folly, and notably through Jan Massys' various interpretations, for which see K. Renger, "Alte Liebe, gleich und ungleich" in Netherlandish Mannerism, Stockholm, 1985, pp.35-46. The present lot connects in particular with Adriaen Matham's engraving (Holl.3; E. de Jongh, G. Luyten, Spiegel van Alledag, 1997, p.172, under n
Lievens was a prodigy and by 1625 his reputation was already well established. In circa 1626 he had settled in Leyden as an independent painter in 1621 after an apprenticeship with Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. Shortly after the present picture was painted, Lievens came into contact with the young Rembrandt. Both artists were soon discovered by Constantyn Huygens, Prince Frederik Hendrik's secretary. Huygens described their art in his autobiography of circa 1630. He observed that while Rembrandt's pictures showed deep psychological expression in the figures, Lievens' art was to be praised for his daring compositions (audaca argumenta), in which he showed a predilection for forms on a large scale (formarum superbia magnitudo). Such observations are of particular relevance for the present painting.