Dorelia

Details

Dirck van Baburen (Wijk bij Duurstede, near Utrecht c. 1594/5-1624 Utrecht)
Dorelia
oil on canvas, laid down to board, a fragment, unframed
24 7/8 x 17 ½ in. (63.2 x 44.4 cm.)

Provenance

Acquired by the present owner before 1973.

Literature

L.J. Slatkes, 'Additions to Dirck van Baburen', in Album Amicorum J.G. van Gelder, ed. J. Bruyn et al., The Hague, 1973, pp. 268, 272, note 11.
B. Nicolson, The International Caravaggesque Movement: Lists of Pictures by Caravaggio and His Followers throughout Europe from 1590 to 1650, Oxford, 1979, p. 17, pl. 117.
A.M. Kettering, The Dutch Arcadia: Pastoral Art and Its Audience in the Golden Age, Montclair, NJ, 1983, p. 189, where erroneously said to represent only Dorelia's head.
A. Blankert et al., Nieuw licht op de Gouden Eeuw: Hendrick ter Brugghen en tijdgenoten, exhibition catalogue, Utrecht and Braunschweig, 1986, p. 188, under no. 37.
B. Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe, ed. Luisa Vertova, Turin, 1989, I, p. 54, III, fig. 1068.
P. van den Brink et al., Het Gedroomde Land: Pastorale schilderkunst in de Gouden Eeuw, exhibition catalogue, Utrecht, Frankfurt and Luxembourg, 1993, p. 89, under no. 4 (cat. by P. van den Brink).
E. de Wilde et al., Le Musée caché: À la découverte des réserves, exhibition catalogue, Brussels, 1994, pp. 65-66, under no. 20 (cat. by H. Bussers).
D. Weller et al., Sinners & Saints: Darkness and Light: Caravaggio and His Dutch and Flemish Followers, exhibition catalogue, Raleigh, Milwaukee and Dayton, 1998, p. 76, under no. 5.
W. Franits, The Paintings of Dirck van Baburen, ca. 1592/93-1624: Catalogue Raisonné, Philadelphia, 2013, p. 156, no. A31A1, pl. 31a.

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve.

Sale room notice

Please note this lot is being exhibited with a loaner frame provided by Julius Lowy Frame and Restoring. Please contact the department for further information.

Brought to you by

François de Poortere

fdepoortere@christies.com +1 212 636 2469

Lot Essay

This painting is one of two surviving fragments, the other of which is in an Irish private collection, from an autograph replica of van Baburen’s Granida and Daifilo of 1623, now in a private collection. A further workshop version is also known (Koninklijke Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Brussels). The subject derives from the third scene of Act 1 in the acclaimed pastoral play, Granida, published in 1615 by the prolific Dutch playwright P.C. Hooft. The scene relays how Granida, the daughter of the King of Persia, comes upon Daifilo, a shepherd, and Dorelia, a shepherdess, asking where she can find water to quench her thirst. While the play ultimately climaxes in the marriage of Granida and Daifilo, artists—including Gerrit van Honthorst, Jacob Backer and Nicolaes Berchem—tended to depict their initial encounter, as van Baburen did here.

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