Caspar Netscher
MOTHER WITH CHILDREN
Oil on canvas (relined). 54,5 x 48,2 cm.
Signed on the base of the pillow, difficult to read: C. Nets. (CN ligiert).
This work has long been considered to be a work by Casper Netscher. Nonetheless, Marjorie Wieseman does not accept the attribution to Netscher and suggests Joost van Geel as the author of the painting. Willem van de Watering comments hereto: "I categorically refuse the attribution to J. van Geel. I still consider the painting to be an early work by Caspar Netscher. Supporting my opinion is the judgement by the late Frits Lugt, who noted in his catalogue of the International Exposition in Brussel in 1935 (now in RKD) at this Illustration (cat. No. 749): "aardig vroeg schilderij" (beautiful, early painting)."
Netscher's early works show the influence of his teacher Ter Borch. They are predominantly genre paintings with motifs from bourgeois life. They were created in the second half of the 1660's - spanning less than fifteen years. After that, he applied himself exclusively to court portraits. Our painting with its firm and glowing colours and warm tones is a characteristic work from his early creative period. In comparison to his later portraits, such examples rarely appear on the market since most of them are today in public collections. One of the most beautiful is the small "Lace Maker" in the Wallace Collection, London. In the 18th century, a copper etching based on our painting was made by James Walker
Provenance
Sale Julienne, Paris 30.3.1767: acquired by Prince Dimitri Galitzin for Katharina II. of Russia. - Collection of the Hermitage Palace, St. Petersburg. - Van Diemen Gallery, Berlin 1928. - Buchenau Collection, Niendorf near Lübeck (as a loan at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) - Eugene Slatter, London 1952. - Christie´s, London, 29.3.1974, no. 25. - With Kunsthandel Xaver Schweidwimmer, Munich, 1977. - Private collection, Germany.
Literature
Cat. St. Petersburg, Hermitage 1838, p. 313, no. 58. - J. Smith: A catalogue raisonné etc, vol. IV, p. 148, no. 9. - Hermitage-Catalogue Edition 1901, p. 209-10 as N. Maes). - C. Hofstede de Groot: Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, 1912, vol. V, p. 189, no. 97. - E. Plietsch: Holländische und Flämische Maler des 17. Jhdts., 1960, ill. 88. - E. Slatter: Dutch and Flemish Masters, London 1952, no. 3. - M. Wieseman: Caspar Netscher and late Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting, Doornspijk 2002, p. 348, no. C 53.
Exhibitions
Brussels International Exposition 1935, cat. no. 749 (At that time Buchenau Collection and as a loan at the Rijksmuseum).