Lot Essay
Little is known about Cornelis Stangerus and only a handful of securely attributed works by the artist are known, to which the present unpublished picture is a notable addition. Guido Jansen ascribed a few pictures to Stangerus in 1984 by comparison with a newly discovered, signed, Philosopher at a Table (see G. Jansen, Cornelis Stangerus, an 'artful painter', Hoogsteder-Naumann Mercury, I, 1985, pp. 43-52) since when another genre painting by the artist turned up in these Rooms, 13 December 1985, lot 43 (sold £11,000). The present picture is one of Stangerus's most ambitious works and his largest known genre painting (all of the others are on an upright format). The pose of the man, his costume and his smiling expression directed demonstratively at the viewer, all compare closely to the figure of the seated cellist in the picture sold in 1985.