Lot 220: A sheet of studies of figures with barrels and packages

Attributed to Jan van der Heyden (Gorinchem 1637-1712 Amsterdam) A sheet of studies of figures with barrels and packages with inscriptions 'J Berckheyde' and 'Beerstraaten' (verso) graphite, brown ink framing lines, watermark three circles surmounted by a cross 5¾ x 7½ in. (14.6 x 18.9 cm.)

14.6 x 18.9 cm.

William Pitcairn Knowles (1820-1894) (L. 2643); Frederik Muller et Cie, Amsterdam, 25-26 June 1895, lot 65 ('Job. Az. Berkheyde. Disciple de Frans Hals. 65. Etude de portefaix et de tonneliers. Croquis à la pierre noir. H. 14.5, l. 19 cent.').

Although this drawing has been called both Berckheyde and Beerstraaten in the course of its history, there are in fact close comparables in the work of Jan van der Heyden. Similar figures appear in the lower left corner of his picture View on the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam (Mauritshuis, The Hague; see Hollandse Stadgezichten uit de Gouden eeuw, exhib. cat., The Hague, Mauritshuis, and Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, 2008-09, no. 24). A sheet of studies by van der Heyden in the KOG collection at the Rijksmuseum, showing firemen and two studies of a head, is also very close (Dutch Figure Drawings from the seventeenth century, exhib. cat., Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, and Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1981-82, no. 39).