Jan Asselijn

Sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby Mak van Waay, 6 November 1978, lot 103

Anne-Charlotte Steland, Die Zeichnungen des Jan Asselijn, Fridingen, 1989, pp. 95, 124-5, 212, no. 18, reproduced pl. 116

A strip of backing paper attached around the edges, and this then window mounted. Paper slightly discoloured, especially towards top,. Thin spot towards bottom left corner. Otherwise good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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This belongs to a stylistically fairly consistent group of landscape drawings on blue paper, which Steland accepted as the work of Asselijn, but about which Schatborn has some reservations.¹  Several of these drawings bear either Asselijn's name or his guild nickname, Crabbetje, inscribed in a seventeenth-century hand, and it is possible that some of these inscriptions are actually by Willem Schellinks; it therefore seems justified to retain the traditional attribution to Asselijn in the case of the present work and the others with which it can be associated.  Another very similar coastal scene from the same group was sold in Amsterdam in 1993.²

1.  See A. C. Steland, op. cit., pp.79-125, and P. Schatborn, Drawn to Warmth, 17th-century Dutch artists in Italy, Amsterdam 2001, pp. 108-109
2.   Christie's, 15 November 1993, lot 56