Lot 8: A family group portrait, full-length, standing in a landscape

Barend Graat (Amsterdam 1628-1709)
A family group portrait, full-length, standing in a landscape
signed with monogram 'BG fe' (lower left)
oil on canvas
62.5 x 72.5 cm.

Newcastle, Exhibition of Pictures, 1866, no. 1121.
Amsterdam, Jacques Goudstikker Gallery, Collectie Goudstikker Amsterdam , May-June 1919, no. 57, as Jan Mijtens.
Leiden, Prentenkabinet der Rijksuniversiteit, on loan.

Mat Anderson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by 1866.
Anonymous sale; Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 14 October 1918, lot 97, as P.van Slingeland (Dfl. 2,750).
with Goudstikker, Amsterdam, 1918.
Looted by the Nazi authorities, July 1940.
Recovered by the Allies, 1945.
in the custody of the Dutch Government.
Restituted in February 2006 to the heir of Jacques Goudstikker.

Christie’s charges a premium to the buyer on the Hammer Price of each lot sold at the following rates: 29.75% of the Hammer Price of each lot up to and including €5,000, plus 23.8% of the Hammer Price between €5,001 and €400,000, plus 14.28% of any amount in excess of €400,000. Buyer’s premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.
The family in the present portrait most likely belonged to a class of landowners. The sitters are dressed all' antica , as hunters or shepherds, showing their close relationship with nature and country-life. This connection is furthermore enhanced by their depiction in an extensive landscape. It was not uncommon to find a country seat in the background of pastoral portraits, as a sign of prosperity and wealth, but here such a clue to the identification of the sitters is absent.

The picture is a fine example of the popularity of pastoral portraits in the northern Netherlands. The earliest known pastoral group portrait dates back to Gerard van Honthorst's painting of 1629 of Elisabeth Stuart and her family, that she gifted to Charles I of England. The specific genre was further developed by protagonists such as Jan Mijtens and Jan van Bijlert, and their pictures clearly served as influential models for Barend Graat's work.

Prior to the discovery of the artist's monogram, during a restoration in 1960, the present lot had been attributed to Pieter Cornelisz. van Slingeland, while Hofstede de Groot thought that he recognized the hand of Jan Mijtens in the brush handling (in a communication to Jacques Goudstikker recorded in the black book). Many pictures by Barend Graat, who achieved only limited fame during his lifetime, were confused with works by better-known contemporaries such as Gerard ter Borch. The present attribution is based on stylistic grounds and the artist's treatment of the subject matter can also be compared with a very similar pastoral family portrait, dated 1677, sold by Sotheby's, London, 5 July 1995, lot 304.