Jacob Toorenvliet

Anonymous sale Stockholm, Auktionverk, 28/29 November 2001, lot 1482.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The copper panel is in good condition and the paint surface is stable and flat. Discoloured restoration can be detected in the darker passages where abrasion has occurred; these include the arched doorway in the background, the sitters' hair and the dark jacket to the male figure on the right. Vulnerable glazing to the red curtain and the red coat of the seated figure on the left, has been compromised. Other minor scattered retouchings can be seen across the paint surface. Many of the finer details are intact and there are passages of well preserved paint. The varnish has discoloured and its removal would improve the tonality."
"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."

Abraham Toorenvliet, the father of Jacob, was a glass painter and a draughtsman working in Leiden, under whom the young Frans van Mieris the Elder and Matthijs Naiveu studied, and it was here that the young Jacob would have learnt his trade as well. Indeed a very interesting comparison can be drawn between the present copper and a slightly later panel by Naiveu which was sold Madrid, Sotheby's, 12 July 1990, lot 13, and was signed and dated 1670, which is clearly reliant on the style of th younger Toorenvliet.  

This is an early work by Toorenvliet painted in 1666 before his departure to Rome in 1670, where he was to join the fraternity of Netherlandish painters called the Schildersbent. It displays the jewel like attention to detail apparent in only his best paintings on copper, and which so firmly places him amongst the ranks of the Fijnschilders in Leiden.