Michiel van Musscher

Anonymous sale, Cologne, J. M. Heberle, 6 June 1983, lot 79;
Anonymous sale ("Property from the Estate of a Swiss Collector"), London, Sotheby's, 8 December 1993, lot 209;
With Salomon Lilian Old Master Paintings, Maastricht 1994;
From whom purchased by Bernard Palitz. 

S. Lilian, Old Master Paintings, Amsterdam 1994, p. 26, reproduced in color p. 27;
O. Ydema, Carpets and their Datings in Netherlandish Paintings, Zutphen 1991, p. 151, reproduced fig. 318.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work on panel is in lovely condition. The panel is made from a single piece of unreinforced oak. The surface is flat. The paint layer may be slightly dirty, but it is certainly very presentable. Apart from a few retouches in the sky on the far left, there are no other retouches that can be seen either under ultraviolet light or to the naked eye.
"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."

Michiel van Musscher trained in Amsterdam in the studios of Gabriel Metsu and Adriaen van Ostade. He produced primarily portraits and genre paintings such as this early work. The subject of this painting has been variously identified as a doctor, alchemist, and a scientist. The amber-colored contents of the glass beaker which he studies appear to be urine, the analysis of which was used to test pregnancy. The cylindrical basket on the floor would have been used to transport the beaker for examination. The apothecary jar labeled Euphrasia, a plant material used as an eye remedy, and the tool at its left, a dental key used for tooth extraction, further reveal the bearded man is indeed a physician.

Many Dutch paintings of the 17th century satirized medicine and alchemy.  An excellent example of this is Ostade’s The Alchemist, dated 1661, in which a paper bears an inscription from the treatise 'De Re Metallica' by Agricola (1556): 'oleum et operam perdis' ('oil and work is wasted').  The relative disorder seen in the studio of the present work may carry the same message as Ostade's picture. 

Van Musscher frequently depicted ladies with their maids, or scholars, often in richly furnished interiors, likely a testament to the wealth which had poured into the Netherlands by the later seventeenth century. Here, the finely detailed tapestry draped over the desk at left is likely a Smyrna carpet, made available by the burgeoning Dutch-Turkish trade.¹ 

A wax seal on the reverse of the panel bears what is likely to be the coat of arms of Leopold, Duke of Brabant (1901-1983) who succeeded his father, Albert I of Belgium, (1875-1934) as Leopold III King of the Belgians, and abdicated in favor of his son Baudouin in 1951.

1. Y. Odema, Old Master Paintings, Amsterdam 1994, p. 51. Identifiable from their rosette borders, the earliest representations of Smyran carpets appear in Willem Duyster’s works. Michel van Musscher depicts Smyrnan carpets in 14 of his paintings.