Utrecht School of the mid 17th century
Portrait of a Couple as a Shepherd and Shepherdess
Oil on canvas (relined). 121 x 155 cm.
This large work depicts a couple in the guise of a shepherd and shepherdess. In the past it has been ascribed to both Govaert Flinck and Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, and it was most certainly made by an artist from the circle of the Utrecht school.
Pastoral 'portraits historié' such as the present work were highly fashionable in 17th century Holland. The trend was popular among both bourgeois and aristocratic patrons, and even artists themselves occasionally made self-portraits in this manner. Theatrical works such as Pieter Cornelisz Hoofts “Granida”, a love story between a Persian princess and a shepherd named Dafilo, were hugely influential for this trend. Men carried flutes or crooks in their portraits, women and children posed feeding sheep, and sometimes even entire families had their portraits painted as shepherds.
Provenance
The Armand Hessel collection, Antwerp. - The former sold in Antwerp, 29.5-2.6.1933, lot 173 (attr. to Govaert Flinck). - The S. Hartveld collection, Antwerp, 1934. - The Harewood Charitable Trust, Leeds. - Auctioned by Christie´s, London, 5.7.1985, lot 49 (attr. to Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp). - P. de Boer art dealers, Amsterdam (labelled to verso).
Literature
Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke: Govaert Flinck 1615-1660. Amsterdam 1965, p. 237, illus. 54 (repudiating the attribution to Govaert Flinck).