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拍品專文
This striking study of a child, distinguished by a mass of unruly, curly hair, was a popular image used by two Antwerp artists about the middle of the 17th century; not surprisingly it exists in at least two versions, the best known of which, on a slightly larger support, is in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg. The fortuna critica of this painting and hence also the present lot has been confused, added to which is the question of the relationship between each other.
The painting in Hamburg has been attributed to Rubens, Van Dyck and now as Jacob Jordaens. The sketch now on offer was put up for sale in 1963 by the distinguished soldier of ancient Scottish lineage, Colonel William Stirling of Keir, and bought for the not inconsiderable sum of £4,500 by the London dealer Leonard Koetser, as a work by Van Dyck. The sketch in Hamburg had however recently been attributed by R.A. d'Hulst to the Antwerp genre painter David Ryckaert III, as the model appeared in several of his paintings and a seemingly identical study was depicted as part of a vanitas still life by him in the Bredius Museum (R.-A. d'Hulst, 'Over een schilderij en een schets van David III Ryckaert', in: Gentse Bijdragen tot de Kunstgeschiedenis en de Oudheidkunde, 19, 1961, 6, pp. 95-101). This proposal was countered by Zirka Zaremba Filipczak, who pointed out that the model was even more frequently depicted by Ryckaert's acqaintance in Antwerp, and a highly successful figure painter in the style of Van Dyck, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert. Her suggestion was soon to gain the independent support of Matias Diaz Padron, and has subsequently been accepted by Alex Heinrich in his 2003 monograph on the artist.
However while Bernadette van Haute in her 1999 monograph on Ryckaert had accepted the Willeboirts attribution of the Hamburg work, she suggested that the former Keir sketch was a copy of it by Ryckaert. Inspite of this artist's evident admiration of the image, her proposal seems very improbable, and is not accepted here, especially as the handling does not in the least resemble his. Ryckaert was a competent but second rate genre painter, incapable -it must be thought- of executing what Matias Diaz Padron has described as a 'magnifico boceto'.
Heinrich indeed catalogued the work as an autograph version. But furthermore while Professor Arnout Balis considered the attribution of the image to Willeboirts Bosschaert to be the 'most plausible', judging from photographs, he thought 'that the real original is not the picture till now reproduced as the original in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, but rather the picture that was with Leonard Koetser (London) in 1963', and which is now here on offer.
The painting in Hamburg has been attributed to Rubens, Van Dyck and now as Jacob Jordaens. The sketch now on offer was put up for sale in 1963 by the distinguished soldier of ancient Scottish lineage, Colonel William Stirling of Keir, and bought for the not inconsiderable sum of £4,500 by the London dealer Leonard Koetser, as a work by Van Dyck. The sketch in Hamburg had however recently been attributed by R.A. d'Hulst to the Antwerp genre painter David Ryckaert III, as the model appeared in several of his paintings and a seemingly identical study was depicted as part of a vanitas still life by him in the Bredius Museum (R.-A. d'Hulst, 'Over een schilderij en een schets van David III Ryckaert', in: Gentse Bijdragen tot de Kunstgeschiedenis en de Oudheidkunde, 19, 1961, 6, pp. 95-101). This proposal was countered by Zirka Zaremba Filipczak, who pointed out that the model was even more frequently depicted by Ryckaert's acqaintance in Antwerp, and a highly successful figure painter in the style of Van Dyck, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert. Her suggestion was soon to gain the independent support of Matias Diaz Padron, and has subsequently been accepted by Alex Heinrich in his 2003 monograph on the artist.
However while Bernadette van Haute in her 1999 monograph on Ryckaert had accepted the Willeboirts attribution of the Hamburg work, she suggested that the former Keir sketch was a copy of it by Ryckaert. Inspite of this artist's evident admiration of the image, her proposal seems very improbable, and is not accepted here, especially as the handling does not in the least resemble his. Ryckaert was a competent but second rate genre painter, incapable -it must be thought- of executing what Matias Diaz Padron has described as a 'magnifico boceto'.
Heinrich indeed catalogued the work as an autograph version. But furthermore while Professor Arnout Balis considered the attribution of the image to Willeboirts Bosschaert to be the 'most plausible', judging from photographs, he thought 'that the real original is not the picture till now reproduced as the original in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, but rather the picture that was with Leonard Koetser (London) in 1963', and which is now here on offer.