Amsterdam School, circa 1600

Portrait of a man; Portrait of a woman

Lot Closed

January 30, 03:18 PM GMT

Estimate

40,000 - 60,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from the Estate of Paul Kasmin

Amsterdam School, circa 1600

Portrait of a man;

Portrait of a woman

a pair, both oil on panel

each panel: 32 1/4 by 23 1/4 in.; 81.9 by 59.1 cm.

each framed: 40 3/4 by 32 1/4 in.; 103.5 by 81.9 cm.

M. Rodolphe Kann, Paris, by 1907;
From whom purchased as part of his collection by the Duveen Bros., Paris, August 1907;
Prince Don Giovanni del Drago;
By whom sold to Ehrich Galleries, New York;
With Marshall Field and Company, Chicago;
From whom purchased by the family of the previous owners, 1927;
By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, 4 June 2015, lot 90;
There acquired by Paul Kasmin.

C. Sedelmeyer, Catalogue of the Rodolphe Kann Collection: Pictures, vol. I, Paris 1907, cat. nos. 36 and 37, pp. 38-39, illus. (as Nicolaes Elias Pickenoy)

Note on the provenance

This pair of portraits was formerly in the celebrated collection of Rodolphe Kann (1854-1905) in Paris. He amassed one of the great private collections of the late 19th century which was housed in his grand residence on the Avenue d’Iéna. Following his death, the entire collection was purchased en bloc from his heirs in August 1907 by the renowned firm Duveen Brothers, who left the collection in situ and opened up the house to important clients. The enormous purchase price of nearly £900,000 (almost $5,000,000 according to the New York Times) sent shock waves through the art world.¹ Many of the important works, such as Rembrandt’s Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Acc. No. 61.198), found their way into American collections and ultimately into American museums.

1. C.B. Scallen, Rembrandt, Reputation, and the Practice of Connoisseurship, Amsterdam 2004, p. 205.