Hubert van Ravesteyn

Anonymous sale, Munich, Galerie Helbing, 1903, lot 26 (as by H.R. Sorgh);
Anonymous sale, Munich, Galerie Helbing, 8 March 1911, lot 124 (as by Hubert van Ravensteyn). 

U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler..., vol. XXVIII, Leipzig 1934, p. 53.

The actual painting is a lot warmer and less red in tone than the catalogue illustration suggests. The single panel is flat and stable, and is slightly bevelled on the lower and right sides. Four small spots of paint loss, which have been retouched, are visible in the lower left corner and in the background right of the boy. Otherwise, the paint surface is in good condition. Tiny discoloured retouchings can be observed throughout, e.g. in the doorway in the background, in the back wall, in the foreground, and in the sheep. The paint surface is covered with a thick and glossy layer of varnish. Inspection under ultra violet light confirms the aforesaid retouchings, and reveals additional small retouchings along the upper and left edges. Offered in an ebonised wood frame with a gilt parcel, in good condition. (MW)
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Although the Dordrecht artist Van Ravesteyn is mostly known for his somewhat naïve vegetable and toebackje still lifes, his barn interiors in particular, like this work, were described by Arnold Houbraken in his Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en schilderessen of 1721: 'Deze schilderde gemeenlyk schaapstalletjes, en een boeremeit die een ketel of iets anders staat te schuuren, of met een boereknaap te praten; of ook wel de vertooning van den slagttyd, door een verken dat op de leer hangt, en jongens die met de blaas spelen.'¹ Several other barn interiors are known, at least three others with this particular view of Dordrecht, all of which are very similar in compostion. 

Van Ravesteyn also repeatedly used specific pictorial motifs. Some of the motifs in this painting, e.g. the slaughtered pig, the boy with the pig's bladder and the cabbages on the wooden bench, can be seen in various combinations in other barn interiors by Van Ravesteyn, such as the one in the Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht (inv. no. DM/907/90) and another which was offered Amsterdam, Glerum, 13 November 1995, lot 26.

1. 'He usually painted sheep folds, with a farm maid sanding a kettle or similar object, or  chatting with a farmhand; or, sometimes, a picture of the slaughtering season with a pig hanging on the ladder and boys playing with a pig's bladder.' A. Houbraken, Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en schilderessen, Amsterdam 1721, vol. III, p. 169.