STUDIO OF JAN DAVIDSZ. DE HEEM | Portrait of William III (1650–1702), Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau, within a garland of flowers and fruit, with a lion holding an orange in its paws

UK: Greenford Park Warehouse

Auction Closed

December 5, 12:50 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

The Property of a European Private Collector

STUDIO OF JAN DAVIDSZ. DE HEEM

Utrecht 1606 - 1683/4 Antwerp

Portrait of William III (1650–1702), Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau, within a garland of flowers and fruit, with a lion holding an orange in its paws

bears signature lower right: J.D. Heem F

inscribed along the upper margin: [INTA]MINA[TIS] FVLGET HONORIBVS HORAT;

and along the lower margin: DIT’S WIL H[e]M VAN NASSOVW, […]ICH , ORANIe, BLOVM. / Die DOOR DeN LVISTER PRAeLT, […]YN VOOR OVWD’Ren ROVM, / GeLieVKOOST VAN De LeeVW; SOO […]DICH ALS WeL = VAeReND / BY DV […ONT?] SPROTeN SPRVIT VAN LeLY en VAN AReND. / VAN WIT eN ROODe ROOS, TOT MeeRDERING SŸNS ROVM

oil on canvas

146 x 119.5 cm.; 57½ x 47 in.

Please note that the last line of provenance should read: Probably where acquired by or on behalf of the grandfather of the present owner, and certainly in his ownership before 1955; Thence by descent.

Possibly private collection, England;

Possibly whence offered, London, Foster, 16–17 February 1825, lot 87 (as De Heem, 'a chef d'ouvre' [sic]), unsold at 55 Guineas;

Anonymous sale, London, T. and H. Rodd, 1827, lot 275 (as De Heem), for £84;

Possibly John Huish, Coulthorpe;

Possibly his posthumous sale, London, Foster, 25 March 1829, lot 87 (as De Heem), for £4–4s. to Taylor;

Possibly private collection, Maryland Point, Stratford, Essex;

Possibly whence posthumously sold ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Stanley, 4 April 1833, lot 21 (as De Heem);

Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Christie's, 14 February 1947, lot 50 (as J. de Heem), for £42 to Fenouil;

With P. de Boer, Amsterdam, 1948 (as De Heem).

B.M.J. Brenninkmeyer-de Rooij, Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1606–1683/84). Allegorisch portret van Prins Willem III, brochure published when the painting from Lyon was on semi-long-term loan to the Schilderijenzaal Willem V, The Hague, 1983–85, unpaginated, reproduced plate 4;

M.E. Tiethoff-Spliethoff, 'Bloemstilleven van Willem III vol symbolen', in Tableau, vol. 7, no. 5, April/May 1985, p. 36;

S. Segal, Jan Davidsz. de Heem und sein Kreis, exh. cat., Brunswick 1991, p. 164, under cat. no. 22 (as a 'signed copy');

F.G. Meijer, Jan Davidsz. de Heem 1606–1684, doctoral diss., University of Amsterdam 2016, p. 266, under cat. no. A237, Copy A (as anonymous).

The still life in this painting is very close in quality to the prime version of the composition by Jan Davidsz. de Heem, today in the Musée des Beaux‐Arts, Lyon.¹ That work was presented to the Prince of Orange in or shortly after 1672, when De Heem was working in Utrecht, by Jan Vermeer van Utrecht (1630–95/97), who reportedly bought the painting from De Heem for 2,000 guilders. Dr Fred G. Meijer, to whom we are grateful for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot, believes that Vermeer is the author of the portrait in the centre of the Lyon painting.² The present work was surely executed by an artist with close knowledge of De Heem's original, most likely a member of the master's studio.

¹ Inv. no. A-85; see Meijer 2016, pp. 265–67, cat. no. A237.

² For a discussion of the commission and Arnold Houbraken's account of the painting, see Meijer 2016, pp. 251–53.