Aert de Gelder

Exhibited by Koetser Gallery

Material Oil on Canvas

Dimensions 86 × 100 cm

Price Available upon inquiry

Status Vetted

About the Work

A rare theme in Dutch paintings, this one by van Gelder is the most dramatic.

King David is visited by his wife Bathsheba. Now elderly only his crown and sceptre on the table beside him show his status. In this scene Bathsheba reminds her husband that their son between them, Salomon, must become the future king. The king’s face show his great love for his wife. The sense of drama is enhanced by the light effects, shimmering on the gold objects as well the reflection on Bathsheba’s clothing and the elaborate baldachin above.

This work has a long and almost complete provenance extending back to the mid-eighteenth Century. In 1752 Gerard Hoet mentioned it as being part of the Van der Linden van Slingelandt Collection.

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Provenance

Collection Johan van der Linden van Slingelandt, Dordrecht, before 1752;
Sale Johan van der Linden van Slingelandt, Dordrecht (Yver.Delfos), 22-8-1785, no. 142 (f 220 – to Delfos);
Collection Pieter Cornelis van Leyden, Leiden;
Inherited by his son Diederick (III) van Leyden, Leiden;
Sale P.C. van Leyden (Amsterdam), Paris (Paillet), (scheduled for 10-9-1804, but held on 15-11-1804, no. 33 (frcs 401 to Lansinck);
Collection W. Thoré-Bürger, Paris, before 1867;
Sale Rinecker, Paris (Drouot), 30/31-3-1868, no. 22 (870 frcs., possibly bought back by Thoré-Bürger);
Collection W. Thoré-Bürger, Paris;
Collection Paul Lacroix, Paris (by inheritance);
Sale of the Heirs of W. Thoré-Bürger [Lacroix], Paris Drouot, 5-12-1892, no. 14 (1650 frcs. to Bourgeois);
Art dealer Bourgeois, Paris;
Collection Arthur Kay, Glasgow, 1893, on loan to the Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1894-1895 (cat. 1895, no. 597);
Collection William Lukens Elkins, Elstowe, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (cat. II, 1900, no. 92);
Collection George W. Elkins, Elstowe, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania;
Art dealer H. M. Clark, London;
Bought by W.C. Escher, 1920 (£ 3,000).

Literature

A. Houbraken, De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen, III, Amsterdam 1721, p. 208;
J.C. Campo Weijerman, De levens-beschryvingen der Nederlandsche kunst-schilders en konst-schilderessen, III, ´s-Gravenhage 1729, p. 43;
J.B. Descamps, La vie des peintres flamands, allemands et hollandais, III, Paris 1760, p. 176;
C. Hofstede de Groot, Arnold Houbraken und seine „Groote Schouburgh“ kritisch beleuchtet, Haag 1893, p. 124 and 468;
C. Hofstede de Groot, „Hollansche kunst in Schotland“, Oud Holland, XI, 1893, p. 224;
A. von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Künstler-Lexikon, Vienna / Leipzig 1906, p. 573;
K. Lilienfeld, Aert de Gelder, The Hague1914, p. 79, p. 137, no. 28, fig. 24 (after 1685);
A. Kay, Treasure Trove in Art, 1939, p. 49, reproduced;
D. van Fossen, The Paintings of Aert de Gelder, diss. Harvard University, Cambridge 1969, p. 263, no. 63 fig. 66 (after 1685);
W. Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, New York 1979, p 2392;
Blankert 1983, pp. 30-31, fig. 27;
J.W. von Moltke, Arent de Gelder, Dordrecht 1645-1727), Doornspijk 1994, no. 23, reproduced (dated 1687);
W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, Landau 1983, vol. II,
p. 1210, no. 750, reproduced;
R.E.O. Ekkart, Verborgen. Nederlandse en Vlamse schilderijn uit de 16de en 17de eeuw uit de collective W.C. Escher, Utrecht Centraal Museum, no. 21, reproduced;
Winterthur 2014–2015, ORANJE. Meisterwerke holländischer Malerei, Museum Oskar Reinhart, no. 4 (p. 19 and Frontispiece).