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Lot Essay
This refined small painting is a previously unknown early work by Adriaen van der Werff and may be regarded as an important addition to the master's oeuvre. It is datable to circa 1678.
In the second half of the 1670s Van der Werff was frequently taken along by his teacher Eglon van der Neer to visit the Leiden studio of Frans van Mieris I. Both painters found inspiration in Van Mieris' newly finished genre paintings, creating their own versions. The present painting is modelled on a signed and dated panel of 1673 by Van Mieris I, which is a self-portrait in the guise of a merry drinker, similarly holding up a large roemer (sold at Phillips, London, 7 April 1981, lot 91, now in a private British collection). Van der Werff in his version also rendered his own face, turning his painting into a self-portrait just like Van Mieris did. Eglon van der Neer painted a version as well (see O. Naumann Ltd, Inaugural Exhibition of Old Master Paintings, 1995, no. 26, pp. 118-21, illustrated, as Frans van Mieris). All three interpretations show the unusual and intriguing combination of a self-portrait, fancy attire, a large roemer and a golden chain with a medal.
The present composition is comparable to Adriaen van der Werff's Self-Portrait in the Staatliches Museum, Schwerin (see B. Gaehtgens, Adriaen van Werff, Munich, 1987, p. 367, no. 106, illustrated).
We are grateful to Mr. Eddy Schavemaker for confirming the attribution on the basis of a photograph (private communication, 26 September 2005) and for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.
In the second half of the 1670s Van der Werff was frequently taken along by his teacher Eglon van der Neer to visit the Leiden studio of Frans van Mieris I. Both painters found inspiration in Van Mieris' newly finished genre paintings, creating their own versions. The present painting is modelled on a signed and dated panel of 1673 by Van Mieris I, which is a self-portrait in the guise of a merry drinker, similarly holding up a large roemer (sold at Phillips, London, 7 April 1981, lot 91, now in a private British collection). Van der Werff in his version also rendered his own face, turning his painting into a self-portrait just like Van Mieris did. Eglon van der Neer painted a version as well (see O. Naumann Ltd, Inaugural Exhibition of Old Master Paintings, 1995, no. 26, pp. 118-21, illustrated, as Frans van Mieris). All three interpretations show the unusual and intriguing combination of a self-portrait, fancy attire, a large roemer and a golden chain with a medal.
The present composition is comparable to Adriaen van der Werff's Self-Portrait in the Staatliches Museum, Schwerin (see B. Gaehtgens, Adriaen van Werff, Munich, 1987, p. 367, no. 106, illustrated).
We are grateful to Mr. Eddy Schavemaker for confirming the attribution on the basis of a photograph (private communication, 26 September 2005) and for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.