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Lot Essay
This very well-preserved panel is an exceptional example of Camphuyzen's oeuvre. Nineteenth-century catalogues cannot be taken as presenting a dispassionate view of their pictures, but the description of this work as a 'chef-d'oeuvre de couleur, d'harmonie et d'exécution' and the claim it would be hard to offer 'une production plus parfaite de cet habile peintre' are by no means unfair (although the comparison with Rembrandt may still be seen as ambitious). Camphuyzen is best known for paintings reminiscent of the work of Paulus Potter, of whom he was a contemporary, as well as landscapes influenced by Aert van der Neer. The present work, however, is one of a small group of tavern and barn scenes that recall more the work of Isack van Ostade, for example the Halting Place in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. It is particularly comparable in style, subject and size with the Amorous peasants in a barn in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels. The latter is recorded in old catalogues as having formerly been dated 1650, and if that is correct, the present picture may be dated to the same approximate period.
The artist's oeuvre has only relatively recently been reconstructed, as during the 19th century much of it was given to Camphuyzen's father, Dirck Rafelsz. (1586-1627), who initially worked as a painter, but aged eighteen gave up art to become a cleric and poet. It was only in 1860 that Willem Burger pointed out that Dirck Rafelsz. could not, as was then generally supposed, have taught Paulus Potter, as he had in fact died only two years after his birth. Only in 1903 did Ernst Moes and Abraham Bredius distinguish between the various oeuvres of the Camphuyzen family (for more information on whom, see F. Tissink and H.F. de Wit, Gorcumse schilders in de Gouden Eeuw, Gorinchem, 1987, pp. 73-5). It is for this reason that the artist's pictures, although not considerable in number, were described in the 1814 catalogue as 'excessivement rares.'
The present picture has a particularly notable provenance, having formerly belonged to the famous seventeenth-century collector, Pieter Cornelis, Baron van Leyden and Lord of Vlaardingen (1717-1788). Van Leyden is best known as the greatest of all Dutch print collectors, whose collection forms the basis of the Rijksprentenkabinett (see J.W. Niemeijer, 'Baron van Leyden, Founder of the Amsterdam Print Collection', trans. P. Wardle, Apollo, June 1983, pp. 461-8); he came from an family of noted collectors - his parents were patrons of Van Mieris - and began to collect as a young man, his first purchases dating from the 1730s. The print collection soon became famous throughout Europe, and several accounts survive of academics' visits to Van Leyden; one of these, that of the Dresden scholar Heinecken, mentions the collection of paintings, but gives no details, as it appears that they were not for public view. This is confirmed by Pieter Cornelis' son's introduction to the 1804 sale, which states that 'Quoique ce Cabinet ait [sic] presque toujours fermé à tous les regards il n'en jouissait pas moins de la plus haute et de la plus juste renommée.' Consequently, few details beyond the catalogue are known of Van Leyden's art collection, which in 1804 consisted of 116 works, practically all of them by Northern and Southern Netherlandish artists, and which was divided between his two houses, no. 48 Rapenburg, Leiden (which still stands today), and Abtspoel Castle, near Leiden.
It included such masterpieces as Vermeer's The Concert (Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), Rembrandt's Portrait of Jacob III de Gheyn (London, Dulwich Picture Gallery), de Hooch's Interior with a Woman drinking with two Men, and a Maidservant, Ter Borch's Swearing of the Oath of Ratification of the Treaty of Münster (both London, National Gallery), Van Goyen's Winter scene near the ruins of Merwede Castle (Paris, Louvre), and two Italianate landscapes by Jan Both now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Wallace Collection, London, besides important works by Pynacker, Brouwer, Ostade, Metsu and Netscher, amongst others. His son and heir, Diderick, moved the collection to Amsterdam, to the famous 'House with the Heads' on the Keizersgracht (see I.H. van Eeghen, 'Amoena Geertruyda Schey en de kunstcollecties van Diederik Baron van Leyden', Jaarboek Amstelodamum, 1973, pp. 137-65), and, when sold, most of the works were unrestored and still in their original frames. Most were said to have been acquired directly from the artists by Van Leyden's ancestors, and the rest to have come from Europe's leading collections, although one can there detect a certain degree of hyperbole on the catalogue's part.
One of the copies of the Van Leyden sale catalogue records that the picture was bought there by the dealer Hypolite Delaroche on behalf of Lucien Bonaparte, Prince de Canino (information provided by the Getty Provenance Index). That is entirely possible as Lucien - unlike his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, whom he accused of 'picture mania' - limited the number of paintings in his collection, and chose them with care. Amongst pictures formerly in his collection are such works as Velazquez's Lady with a Fan (London, Wallace Collection), Titian's Allegory of Prudence, Lotto's Family Group, Honthorst's Christ before the High Priest (all London, National Gallery), Bronzino's Portrait of a Young Man (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art), Luini's Mary Magdalene (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art) and David's Belisarius begging Alms (Paris, Louvre). This picture is not on the same exalted level, but it is an exceptional example of the artist's oeuvre, and may well in that context have caught Bonaparte's eye. However, the main sales from his collection were those held under the auspices of William Buchanan and, subsequently, Stanley's auction house in London in 1815 and 1816, by which time the present picture had been sold from the collection of the celebrated Parisian dealer and auctioneer Alexandre Joseph Paillet. Given that the latter had been one of the consortium who had sold the Van Leyden collection, one wonders whether either the report of Lucien's purchase is correct or Bonaparte had subsequently re-sold it privately to Paillet.
The artist's oeuvre has only relatively recently been reconstructed, as during the 19th century much of it was given to Camphuyzen's father, Dirck Rafelsz. (1586-1627), who initially worked as a painter, but aged eighteen gave up art to become a cleric and poet. It was only in 1860 that Willem Burger pointed out that Dirck Rafelsz. could not, as was then generally supposed, have taught Paulus Potter, as he had in fact died only two years after his birth. Only in 1903 did Ernst Moes and Abraham Bredius distinguish between the various oeuvres of the Camphuyzen family (for more information on whom, see F. Tissink and H.F. de Wit, Gorcumse schilders in de Gouden Eeuw, Gorinchem, 1987, pp. 73-5). It is for this reason that the artist's pictures, although not considerable in number, were described in the 1814 catalogue as 'excessivement rares.'
The present picture has a particularly notable provenance, having formerly belonged to the famous seventeenth-century collector, Pieter Cornelis, Baron van Leyden and Lord of Vlaardingen (1717-1788). Van Leyden is best known as the greatest of all Dutch print collectors, whose collection forms the basis of the Rijksprentenkabinett (see J.W. Niemeijer, 'Baron van Leyden, Founder of the Amsterdam Print Collection', trans. P. Wardle, Apollo, June 1983, pp. 461-8); he came from an family of noted collectors - his parents were patrons of Van Mieris - and began to collect as a young man, his first purchases dating from the 1730s. The print collection soon became famous throughout Europe, and several accounts survive of academics' visits to Van Leyden; one of these, that of the Dresden scholar Heinecken, mentions the collection of paintings, but gives no details, as it appears that they were not for public view. This is confirmed by Pieter Cornelis' son's introduction to the 1804 sale, which states that 'Quoique ce Cabinet ait [sic] presque toujours fermé à tous les regards il n'en jouissait pas moins de la plus haute et de la plus juste renommée.' Consequently, few details beyond the catalogue are known of Van Leyden's art collection, which in 1804 consisted of 116 works, practically all of them by Northern and Southern Netherlandish artists, and which was divided between his two houses, no. 48 Rapenburg, Leiden (which still stands today), and Abtspoel Castle, near Leiden.
It included such masterpieces as Vermeer's The Concert (Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), Rembrandt's Portrait of Jacob III de Gheyn (London, Dulwich Picture Gallery), de Hooch's Interior with a Woman drinking with two Men, and a Maidservant, Ter Borch's Swearing of the Oath of Ratification of the Treaty of Münster (both London, National Gallery), Van Goyen's Winter scene near the ruins of Merwede Castle (Paris, Louvre), and two Italianate landscapes by Jan Both now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Wallace Collection, London, besides important works by Pynacker, Brouwer, Ostade, Metsu and Netscher, amongst others. His son and heir, Diderick, moved the collection to Amsterdam, to the famous 'House with the Heads' on the Keizersgracht (see I.H. van Eeghen, 'Amoena Geertruyda Schey en de kunstcollecties van Diederik Baron van Leyden', Jaarboek Amstelodamum, 1973, pp. 137-65), and, when sold, most of the works were unrestored and still in their original frames. Most were said to have been acquired directly from the artists by Van Leyden's ancestors, and the rest to have come from Europe's leading collections, although one can there detect a certain degree of hyperbole on the catalogue's part.
One of the copies of the Van Leyden sale catalogue records that the picture was bought there by the dealer Hypolite Delaroche on behalf of Lucien Bonaparte, Prince de Canino (information provided by the Getty Provenance Index). That is entirely possible as Lucien - unlike his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, whom he accused of 'picture mania' - limited the number of paintings in his collection, and chose them with care. Amongst pictures formerly in his collection are such works as Velazquez's Lady with a Fan (London, Wallace Collection), Titian's Allegory of Prudence, Lotto's Family Group, Honthorst's Christ before the High Priest (all London, National Gallery), Bronzino's Portrait of a Young Man (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art), Luini's Mary Magdalene (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art) and David's Belisarius begging Alms (Paris, Louvre). This picture is not on the same exalted level, but it is an exceptional example of the artist's oeuvre, and may well in that context have caught Bonaparte's eye. However, the main sales from his collection were those held under the auspices of William Buchanan and, subsequently, Stanley's auction house in London in 1815 and 1816, by which time the present picture had been sold from the collection of the celebrated Parisian dealer and auctioneer Alexandre Joseph Paillet. Given that the latter had been one of the consortium who had sold the Van Leyden collection, one wonders whether either the report of Lucien's purchase is correct or Bonaparte had subsequently re-sold it privately to Paillet.