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拍品专文
Jacob van Velsen remains an enigmatic figure in the history of the Delft school. Registered in 1625 as a member of the guild of Saint Luke in that city, he is believed, on the basis of stylistic similarities, to have trained with Anthonie Palamedesz. A year after he joined the painters' corporation, he married a wealthy catholic widow, and this advantageous alliance may account for his small output as a painter. Freed from financial constraints, the artist is thought to have painted for leisure rather than sustenance, yet managed, through a limited corpus now enriched with the present picture, to display his astonishing talent. Like Palamedesz., and in the tradition of Pieter Codde, Willem Duyster and Dirck Hals, Jacob van Velsen specialised in elegant company scenes, depicting the fashionable pastimes of the Dutch upper classes, often revolving around music making. Known for his use of a brilliant palette and vibrant light that captures the luminescent qualities of his figures' rich dress, his art anticipates the developments brought to Dutch genre painting a few decades later by Johannes Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch (W. Liedtke, Vermeer and the Delft School, New York, 2001, pp. 75-6 and 349-50).
This refined, unpublished picture represents an important addition to the artist's small oeuvre. A genuine rarity, An elegant couple playing music is one of only two recorded works on copper by van Velsen, the other being The Fortune Teller (Paris, Musée du Louvre). The artist evidently relished the smooth surface of this support and exploited its reflective qualities to render with exquisite skill the satin fabrics, rich pearls and smooth complexions of the young musicians. Signed and dated 1630, this painting is the earliest surviving work by the artist, and is an invaluable document to understanding his artistic development.
This picture is the prime version of a painting on panel, dated a year later, and last recorded in 1967 in the collection of James A. Murnaghan in Dublin. This later version, which shows slight variations in the figures' clothing, was popularised under the name 'Le Musicien Espagnole' [sic] when engraved in 1755 by French printmaker François-Antoine Aveline. The identification of the gentleman as a Spaniard is a result of his extravagant attire, reminiscent of Iberian costumes in theatre plays of the period: red stockings held by white ribbons tied in a glorious bow, slashed yellow and blue breeches, sumptuous grey silk jacket and a blue cape lined with gold resting on the back of his seat.
A ubiquitous theme in paintings of the Dutch Golden Age, music making, because of the harmony it requires among the players, was a common symbol of love, of two hearts 'that vibrate to the same note' according to Jacob Cats in his 1618 emblem book Sinne-en Minne beelden (E. Buijsen and L.P. Grijp, eds., The Hoogsteder Exhibition of Music and Painting in the Golden Age, The Hague, 1994, p. 41). Van Velsen subtly conveys this amorous feeling through the affectionate look exchanged between the young lady and her nonchalant companion.
The collection of Dutch and Flemish pictures formed by John Enrico Fattorini was one of the finest to have been assembled in Britain during the last century. A visionary retailer, Fattorini founded Grattan Warehouses in Bradford in 1912, one of the first mail order businesses in the United Kingdom. By the late 1930s, he was in a position to acquire important pictures, furniture and works of art. He was particularly fond of Dutch cabinet pictures and formed a strong relationship with Duits, the long-established family dealership in London, who appear to have acted as the agents for his major purchases.
This refined, unpublished picture represents an important addition to the artist's small oeuvre. A genuine rarity, An elegant couple playing music is one of only two recorded works on copper by van Velsen, the other being The Fortune Teller (Paris, Musée du Louvre). The artist evidently relished the smooth surface of this support and exploited its reflective qualities to render with exquisite skill the satin fabrics, rich pearls and smooth complexions of the young musicians. Signed and dated 1630, this painting is the earliest surviving work by the artist, and is an invaluable document to understanding his artistic development.
This picture is the prime version of a painting on panel, dated a year later, and last recorded in 1967 in the collection of James A. Murnaghan in Dublin. This later version, which shows slight variations in the figures' clothing, was popularised under the name 'Le Musicien Espagnole' [sic] when engraved in 1755 by French printmaker François-Antoine Aveline. The identification of the gentleman as a Spaniard is a result of his extravagant attire, reminiscent of Iberian costumes in theatre plays of the period: red stockings held by white ribbons tied in a glorious bow, slashed yellow and blue breeches, sumptuous grey silk jacket and a blue cape lined with gold resting on the back of his seat.
A ubiquitous theme in paintings of the Dutch Golden Age, music making, because of the harmony it requires among the players, was a common symbol of love, of two hearts 'that vibrate to the same note' according to Jacob Cats in his 1618 emblem book Sinne-en Minne beelden (E. Buijsen and L.P. Grijp, eds., The Hoogsteder Exhibition of Music and Painting in the Golden Age, The Hague, 1994, p. 41). Van Velsen subtly conveys this amorous feeling through the affectionate look exchanged between the young lady and her nonchalant companion.
The collection of Dutch and Flemish pictures formed by John Enrico Fattorini was one of the finest to have been assembled in Britain during the last century. A visionary retailer, Fattorini founded Grattan Warehouses in Bradford in 1912, one of the first mail order businesses in the United Kingdom. By the late 1930s, he was in a position to acquire important pictures, furniture and works of art. He was particularly fond of Dutch cabinet pictures and formed a strong relationship with Duits, the long-established family dealership in London, who appear to have acted as the agents for his major purchases.