Cornelis Pietersz. Bega

Possibly Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890),
possibly sale, Amsterdam, de Vries, 2 December 1913, lot 49 (to Houthakker)¹;
possibly with Bernard Houthakker, Amsterdam;
Henry Scipio Reitlinger,
sale of his collection, Part VII, London, Sotheby's, 22 June 1954, lot 613 (purchased at the sale)

Aachen, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, and Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Cornelis Bega. Eleganz und raue Sitten, 2012, pp. 47, 171-3, 270, no. 38 (catalogue entry by Baukje Coenen)

M.A. Scott, 'Cornelis Bega (1631/32-1664) as Painter and Draughtsman,' PhD thesis, University of Maryland, 1984, p. 377, no. D22

Overall condition good and fresh. Hinged to mount at left edge, and remains of other former hinges adhering to verso in various places at edges. Very light vertical (slightly diagonal) crease, lower left corner. Some slight abrasions and insignificant losses at extreme edges, in framing lines.
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This very skilfully worked figure study is an outstanding example of the style of the leading Haarlem painter and draughtsman, Cornelis Bega, who studied with Adriaen van Ostade, and depicted many of the same themes, but in his own distinctive and rather refined drawing style.  Mary Anne Scott suggested a dating of circa 1658-60, Baukje Coenen thinks it is fractionally later, circa 1660-62, but both agree that this is a really exceptional, late work by the artist.   

Other than the skill with which it is handled, the most striking feature of this drawing is that only the outline of the model's face is indicated, and her actual features are not drawn in.  According to Coenen, this fits with the fact that Bega saw drawings like this primarily as studies of costume and drapery, not figures, and indeed there are other drawings, such as one of a seated woman in profile, in the Rijksmuseum,² where the head is only outlined, as here, and even a red chalk study of a seated woman in which the head is totally omitted.³  Perhaps the most poetic of all Bega's expressions of this emphasis on drapery are his very rare oil grisailles depicting a single female figure, such as the beautiful example showing a seated woman, her face averted, in the Abrams Collection.⁴

Even though we cannot see her face, the figure depicted in this drawing would appear to be one of four favourite models, who recur regularly in Bega's paintings and drawings.  These models were first identified by Mary Anne Scott, and named by her according to the location of the most important painting in which they appear.⁵  The girl seen here, perhaps Bega's favourite model of all, is the so-called 'Berlin model,' who appears not only in the Berlin painting of a Peasant Family, but also in at least two others.⁶  In drawings, she has been identified in another three sheets: standing, with her face fully visible, in a fine red chalk drawing in a private collection⁷; standing in profile, wearing extremely similar clothing and headgear to those seen in the present drawing, in a splendid black and white chalk drawing on blue paper that was recently on the Paris art market;⁸ and seated, with a child, in a black chalk drawing in Hamburg.⁹

With its light, almost flickering touches of black chalk, extremely effective, delicate highlighting in white chalk, and subtle yet strong sense of three dimensionality, this highly accomplished drawing emphasises why Bega is rightly held up as one of the most talented Dutch figure draughtsmen of the 17th century.

^1.  Although the measurements cited in the 1913 sale catalogue do not correspond precisely, drawings of standing female figures on blue paper by Bega are rare, and no other currently known drawing by the artist can be matched with this sale reference. 

^2.  Inv. RP-T-1883-A-207

^3.  Private Collection;  exh. cat., Aachen/Berlin, op. cit., p. 154, fig. 30a

^4.  Ibid., no. 36

^5.  See B. Coenen, in exh. cat, Aachen op. cit., p. 50  

^6.  exh. cat., Aachen, op. cit., nos. 33, 57, 71

^7.  Ibid., no. 39

^8.  Formerly Collection of Albert Finot, sold Paris, Drouot, 18 November 2005, lot 84

^9.  A. Stefes, Niederländische Zeichnungen 1450-1850. Kupferstichkabinett der Hamburger Kunsthalle, 3 vols., Cologne/Weimar/Vienna 2011, no. 55