Jan van Bijlert

Acquired by the present owner in 2004. 

London, Robilant and Voena, Dutch and Flemish Caravaggesque Paintings from the Koelliker Collection, 2005.

J. Bikker in Dutch and Flemish Caravaggesque Paintings from the Koelliker Collection, exhibition catalogue, London 2005, pp. 14-17.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The oak panel is made up of three planks and is in a good secure condition. The joins are stable, as is the paint layer. The painting has been recently cleaned and restored. Restoration can be seen under ultra-violet light in areas where reduction of the pronounced vertical wood grain has been necessary, particularly in the background, but also detectable in the flesh tones and the sleeve, lower right, where actual minor paint loss has occurred. The paint to the fur, the white collar, the feathers and hat are in a good condition. The colours saturate well and the varnish is not discoloured. Generally, in a good preserved condition. Offered in an ornate black and gilt frame with some damages."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The attribution to Bijlert has been endorsed by Dr. Paul Huys Janssen on the basis of photographs.

Bijlert depicted the same model in a number of works; in one work in particular, the same model is shown in a remarkably similar pose, although facing the other direction.¹ Both works would have been conceived as pendants, the pair presumably depicting a shepherdess facing the opposite direction; see, for example, the Shepherdess with a staff and shell (Granida?) in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow.²

What appears to be a preparatory drawing for the present work was sold Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 22 November 2002, lot 27 (see fig. 1).

1.  See P.H. Janssen, Jan van Bijlert, Amsterdam/Philadelphia 1998, p. 130, cat. no. 77, reproduced colour plate II, and fig. 40
2.  ibid., p. 132, no. 86, reproduced fig. 50.