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Lot Essay
According to the artist's biographer Johan van Gool (1685–1763), the artistic talent of the Amsterdam born Hendrik Pothoven was recognized early on by the portrait and genre painter Philip van Dijk (1683-1753). Van Dijk knew the Pothoven family well, and when the young Hendrik showed drawings to him during one of his visits to the family, he was so impressed that he promised to take him as a pupil. Like his master, Hendrik was to specialize in topographical pictures, but he also successfully added portraits to his repertoire.
27 preparatory drawings for Pothoven's portraits are known, described in detail by Robert-Jan te Rijdt in his article on the artist's studies (te Rijdt, op. cit., p. 350). Te Rijdt connected fourteen of them to paintings. The present one is for the Portrait of Jacob Swarth and his wife, Anna Maria Teekelenburg and their children, signed and dated 1773, in a private collection (see A. Staring, De Hollanders thuis, Amsterdam, 1956, p. 146, pl. XL). Other preparatory studies for the painting are in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. RP-T-1964-7; te Rijdt, op. cit., no. 8) and in the Prentenkabinet, Leiden (PK-1969-T-84 and PK-1969-T-88; te Rijdt, op. cit., nos. 9, 11).
27 preparatory drawings for Pothoven's portraits are known, described in detail by Robert-Jan te Rijdt in his article on the artist's studies (te Rijdt, op. cit., p. 350). Te Rijdt connected fourteen of them to paintings. The present one is for the Portrait of Jacob Swarth and his wife, Anna Maria Teekelenburg and their children, signed and dated 1773, in a private collection (see A. Staring, De Hollanders thuis, Amsterdam, 1956, p. 146, pl. XL). Other preparatory studies for the painting are in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. RP-T-1964-7; te Rijdt, op. cit., no. 8) and in the Prentenkabinet, Leiden (PK-1969-T-84 and PK-1969-T-88; te Rijdt, op. cit., nos. 9, 11).