Jan Josef Horemans the Younger

Sir Michael Sadler (1861-1943), Great Britain;

By whose executors sold, 'From the Collection of the Late Sir Michael Sadler, K.C.S.I, C.B.', Christie's London, 16 June 1950, lot 133 (as Horemans);

Where acquired by "Van der Har", for 6 gns.;

Anonymous sale, Christie's London, 29 October 1999, lot 65;

Where acquired by Aso O. Tavitian.

This delightful depiction of a music recital typifies the interior compositions often explored by Jans Josef Horemans the Younger. In the present work, Horemans draws inspiration from a seventeenth-century master, David Teniers the Younger directly borrowing the cellist from his Family Concert on the Terrace of a Country House.¹

This figure has been identified as Teniers himself, with the other subjects representing members of his family. In a work similar to the present composition, Horemans again reprises Teniers' cellist, a choice which underscores Teniers' artistic influence on the younger artist.²

¹ Sold Sotheby's London, 9 July 2008, lot 23. See M. Klinge, David Teniers der Jüngere (Heidelberg 2005), p. 186, cat. no. 47, reproduced. Teniers also produced another similar version of the composition, now in Berlin's Gemäldegalerie.

² Sold Sotheby's London, 24 April 2008, lot 55, as one of a pair of genre paintings.