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拍品专文
Though attributed solely to Adriaen van der Werff by John Smith (1833), Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1928), Sturla J. Gudlaugsson (1950), Barbara Gaehtgens (1987), Betsy Wieseman (1991, 2002) and Wayne Franits (2004), this painting has recently and convincingly been recognised as an intriguing example of a collaboration by van der Werff and his master, Eglon van der Neer (see Schavemaker, op. cit., pp. 75-76). Following an eighteen-month apprenticeship with the otherwise unknown Cornelis Picolet around 1669, in or around 1671, the then twelve-year-old van der Werff entered van der Neer’s Rotterdam studio, initially for a one-year period. At the end of this period, the term of study was extended for three additional years and, in 1675, van der Werff signed a new contract to serve as van der Neer’s apprentice for eighteen more months. During his apprenticeship, van der Werff was allowed to split his time equally working for van der Neer and on independent projects. Though van der Werff became a fully independent master before his eighteenth birthday in 1677, he and van der Neer remained close. The younger artist may even have been ‘hired’ as an independent master to complete the elder artist’s paintings in the years before he settled in Brussels in 1680.
As Eddy Schavemaker has suggested, the present painting is one of perhaps only five extant works that suggests the involvement of both artists. In addition to the present painting, the author cited the Woman with a ring and a man of 1678 (fig. 1; St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum), which is signed only by van der Werff; the Two boys with a mousetrap and cat in a window of 1676 (Germany, Private collection, on loan to the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), which is signed solely by van der Werff but whose quality exceeds that of the artist's other known paintings in the period; the Portrait of a woman of 1678 (Europe, Private collection), which is signed by van der Werff but largely by van der Neer, with the younger artist putting only the finishing details on the painting; the Man with a pipe and rummer in a window of 1682 (South Carolina, Private collection), which is signed exclusively by van der Neer; and the Sophonisba being Offered the Poisoned Cup (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum), which is signed by van der Werff but which Schavemaker suggests was ‘probably made in collaboration with his teacher van der Neer’ (op. cit., p. 217, no. 3, under Appendix IV). Van der Neer had previously treated this historical subject in a painting dated 1674 (present location unknown).
The hallmarks of each artist are especially clear in the present painting, with the differences particularly evident in the faces of the young woman and man. The woman’s head, viewed in three-quarter profile, is notably skilful in its handling and is highly comparable to a number of similar heads in van der Neer’s oeuvre. The man’s face, viewed more-or-less head-on and with almond-shaped eyes, is instead characteristic of the youthful van der Werff. Van der Werff similarly appears to have been the one responsible for the young man’s beautifully rendered torso and the atmospherically conceived background, while van der Neer likely painted the viola da gamba, chair legs and the woman’s flowing satin gown, all of which are depicted with his usual precision (for further discussion on the two hands, see Schavemaker, op. cit., pp. 75-76).
The man’s face in the present painting is especially close to that of the youthful drummer in van der Werff’s Boy playing a drum (present location unknown; see Gaehtgens, op. cit., pp. 202-3, no. 7, fig. 7). That painting is in turn based on one dated 1676 by van der Neer (United Kingdom, Private collection; see Schavemaker, op. cit., p. 478, no. 66, fig. 66). While Schavemaker did not posit a specific dating for the present painting, in her monograph on van der Werff, Gaehtgens noted the close similarities between it and van der Neer’s works of 1674-8 and plausibly concluded that it should be dated to circa 1678 (loc. cit.), the year in which – insofar as can be determined – the two artists collaborated most regularly.
The subject of couples making music was a popular one among artists who specialised in the production of high-life genre paintings in the second half of the seventeenth century and carried with it connotations of intimate affections between the participants. Instruction in music and dance was also a standard feature of an upper-class education in the seventeenth century, an idea which is reinforced here by the protagonists’ sumptuous clothing and elegant, slightly languid posture. However, the two artists have cleverly, if subtly, called into question our preconceived perceptions of the situation: the woman holds the theorbo both the wrong way around and upside down; the man holds the bow in his left hand; and both instruments appear with broken strings.
As Eddy Schavemaker has suggested, the present painting is one of perhaps only five extant works that suggests the involvement of both artists. In addition to the present painting, the author cited the Woman with a ring and a man of 1678 (fig. 1; St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum), which is signed only by van der Werff; the Two boys with a mousetrap and cat in a window of 1676 (Germany, Private collection, on loan to the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), which is signed solely by van der Werff but whose quality exceeds that of the artist's other known paintings in the period; the Portrait of a woman of 1678 (Europe, Private collection), which is signed by van der Werff but largely by van der Neer, with the younger artist putting only the finishing details on the painting; the Man with a pipe and rummer in a window of 1682 (South Carolina, Private collection), which is signed exclusively by van der Neer; and the Sophonisba being Offered the Poisoned Cup (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum), which is signed by van der Werff but which Schavemaker suggests was ‘probably made in collaboration with his teacher van der Neer’ (op. cit., p. 217, no. 3, under Appendix IV). Van der Neer had previously treated this historical subject in a painting dated 1674 (present location unknown).
The hallmarks of each artist are especially clear in the present painting, with the differences particularly evident in the faces of the young woman and man. The woman’s head, viewed in three-quarter profile, is notably skilful in its handling and is highly comparable to a number of similar heads in van der Neer’s oeuvre. The man’s face, viewed more-or-less head-on and with almond-shaped eyes, is instead characteristic of the youthful van der Werff. Van der Werff similarly appears to have been the one responsible for the young man’s beautifully rendered torso and the atmospherically conceived background, while van der Neer likely painted the viola da gamba, chair legs and the woman’s flowing satin gown, all of which are depicted with his usual precision (for further discussion on the two hands, see Schavemaker, op. cit., pp. 75-76).
The man’s face in the present painting is especially close to that of the youthful drummer in van der Werff’s Boy playing a drum (present location unknown; see Gaehtgens, op. cit., pp. 202-3, no. 7, fig. 7). That painting is in turn based on one dated 1676 by van der Neer (United Kingdom, Private collection; see Schavemaker, op. cit., p. 478, no. 66, fig. 66). While Schavemaker did not posit a specific dating for the present painting, in her monograph on van der Werff, Gaehtgens noted the close similarities between it and van der Neer’s works of 1674-8 and plausibly concluded that it should be dated to circa 1678 (loc. cit.), the year in which – insofar as can be determined – the two artists collaborated most regularly.
The subject of couples making music was a popular one among artists who specialised in the production of high-life genre paintings in the second half of the seventeenth century and carried with it connotations of intimate affections between the participants. Instruction in music and dance was also a standard feature of an upper-class education in the seventeenth century, an idea which is reinforced here by the protagonists’ sumptuous clothing and elegant, slightly languid posture. However, the two artists have cleverly, if subtly, called into question our preconceived perceptions of the situation: the woman holds the theorbo both the wrong way around and upside down; the man holds the bow in his left hand; and both instruments appear with broken strings.