A grotto with travellers unloading a wagon, a gypsy fortune-teller, a blacksmith and other figures

Details

Philips Wouwerman (Haarlem 1619-1668)
A grotto with travellers unloading a wagon, a gypsy fortune-teller, a blacksmith and other figures
with monogram 'P:L:W' (lower left)
oil on canvas
46.8 x 52 cm.

Provenance

(Possibly) William Tripp, Cotham, near Bristol.
F. Coates.
Edgar Asheton Bennett, 1930.
with B. Koetser, London, 1969-70.
Anonymous sale; Christie's London, 17 June 1975, lot 70.

Literature

(Possibly) J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné, etc., London, 1842, supplement, p. 224, no. 249.
(Possibly) C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der Hervorragendsten Holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, Esslingen/Paris, 1908, II, p. 555, no. 928.

Special notice

Christie's charge a premium to the buyer on the final bid price of each lot sold at the following rates: 23.8% of the final bid price of each lot sold up to and including €150,000 and 14.28% of any amount in excess of €150,000. Buyers' premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.

Sale room notice

Please note the following addition to the provenance:
with Polak Ltd., London, circa 1972.
Anonymous sale; Lempertz, Cologne, November 1983, lot 1742.

Lot Essay

We are grateful to Dr. Birgit Schumacher for confirming the attribution on the basis of a transparency (written communication, 14 September 2005). She points out that the present composition is a late work, possibly with some studio assistance, datable to around 1665, characterised by the detailed rendering of the figures and the composition. The painting will be included in Dr. Schumacher's forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist.

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