Diogenes searching for an Honest Man

Details

Jan Victors (Amsterdam 1619-1676 Indonesia)
Diogenes searching for an Honest Man
oil on canvas
106.7 x 89.2 cm.

Provenance

Miss J. McEwan.
Karl Frohlich; Christie's, London, 20 November 1940, lot 210, sold to Berendt (£ 7.7.0).
Morris I. Kaplan, Chicago; Sotheby's, London, 12 June 1968, lot 105.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 24 November 1971, lot 215, where purchased by
Sir Eric Scowen; Sotheby's, London, 31 October 1979, lot 46.
Trustees of the Sir A.C.S. Abdy Will Trust; Christie's, London, 2 May 1980, lot 14.
with K. & V. Waterman, Amsterdam.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 13 January 1987, lot 139.

Literature

D. Miller, Jan Victors 1619-1676, PhD diss., University of Delaware, Delaware, 1985, pp. 287 and 412, no. A25.
A. Blankert, 'Der "Realismus" der holländischen Historienmalerei im 17. Jahrhundert', in Triumph und Tod des Helden, exhibition catalogue, Cologne, 1987, pp. 50-1, fig. 27.
W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt Schüler, Landau, 1987, IV, pp. 2607-8 and 2669, no. 1770.

Exhibited

Amsterdam, Kunsthandel K. & V. Waterman, The Impact of a Genius: Rembrandt, his Pupils and Followers in the Seventeenth Century, 22 April-17 May 1983, no. 63; and Groningen, Groningen Museum, 20 May-30 June 1983.

Special notice

'' ! '' Lots Imported from outside the EU. The buyer's premium is 48.75% incl. VAT over the first €20,000, plus 42.8% incl. VAT of the hammer price between €20,001 and €800.000, plus 33.28% incl. VAT of any amount in excess of 800.000.

Lot Essay

The theme of Diogenes Searching for an Honest Man was a favorite of
Victors, who painted three other versions of the subject. An early
version dated 1654 is most similar; a second version is in the
Hermitage, St. Petersburg, while the whereabouts of the third version
are unknown. Dr. Werner Sumowski dates the present painting to Victors' mature period of 1655-76.

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