Lot 55: Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy (Amsterdam 1587/8-1650/6)

Portrait of a gentleman, three-quarter-length, in a ruff collar and black silk doublet with lace-trimmed, turn-back cuffs, his gloves in his left hand and a hat in his right hand; and Portrait of a lady, three-quarter-length, in a ruff collar and black silk dress with a brocade bodice with gold buttons and lace-trimmed turn-back cuffs, her white gloves in her left hand the first dated 'AN o.1634' (AN in monogram, upper right); the second dated 'AN o.1634-' (AN in monogram, upper right) oil on panel 48 1/8 x 35 in. (122.2 x 88.9 cm.) a pair (2) PROVENANCE (Probably) Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, 1st Bt. (c. 1722-1773), Langley Park, Norfolk, and by descent to Sir Christopher Proctor-Beauchamp, 9th Bt., formerly at Langley Park, Norwich; his sale, Christie's, London, 11 July 1980, lot 78, as Thomas de Keyser (sold œ7,000). NOTES The artist was the son of Elias Claesz. Pickenoy, an armorial stonemason who came to Amsterdam from Antwerp. Stylistic evidence suggests that Nicolaes was trained by Cornelis van der Voort, also of Antwerp, who was the leading portraitist in Amsterdam in the earlier seventeenth century. Although no early works by Pickenoy have been identified, it seems likely that he began painting portraits between 1610 and 1620, and soon established himself as one of the genre's foremost practitioners, enjoying the patronage of Amsterdam's patrician families. His work of the period 1620-45 includes no fewer than three group portraits of regents and five of civic guard companies, including that in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, one of the series for the Kloveniersdoelen that included Rembrandt's Night Watch. The present pair of portraits are fine examples of Pickenoy's portrait style: his exceptional ability at conveying the different textures of fabric, his typically soft shadows offsetting the strong contours of his figures. Formerly catalogued as by Thomas de Keyser (whose style is similar, and with whose work that of Pickenoy has on other occasions been confused, for example the Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Sebastiaen Egbertsz. de Vrij in the Amsterdams Historisch Museum), the attribution to Pickenoy was first given by Mr. Fred Meijer of the RKD. They can be compared with such works as Pickenoy's pendant portraits of Maerten Rey and his wife Maria Swartenhont of 1627 (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), or the slightly later Portrait of a 27-year old man and Portrait of a 21-year old woman of 1621 (England, private collection; and Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum). The latter pair of paintings date, like the present pictures, from the early 1630s, the period widely regarded as representing the peak of Pickenoy's artistic ability. The traditional identification of these portraits as of Grand Pensionary Johann de Witt and his wife must be discounted if only on the grounds of age: de Witt was born in 1625, which would make him only nine years old at the time these portraits were painted. In addition, however, the Grand Pensionary's physiognomy, as recorded in known portraits such as that by Adriaen Hanneman in the Museum Boijmans-Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, differs from that of the present male sitter. Langley Park, ten miles east of Norwich, was bought by George Proctor (d. 1744) from the Berney family in 1742. Proctor, a connoisseur and collector who had until then lived in Venice, employed the Norwich architect Matthew Brettingham (d. 1769), who was also patronised by the Earl of Leicester at Holkham Hall, to build him a Palladian villa on his new estates. However, Proctor died two years later, and his estates passed to his nephew William Beauchamp, later Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, 1st Bt. (the family changed their name in 1852 to Proctor-Beauchamop). It was Beauchamp-Proctor who was completed and enlarged the mansion, and who was largely responsible for building up the notable collection of pictures at Langley. The picture collection at Langley included many works now in public collections, including Stubbs's Lion and Lioness (Boston, Museum of Fine Arts), a View of the Molo, Venice (El Paso, Texas, Museum of Art) and a View of the Grand Canal, Venice, from the Campo San Vio by Canaletto (Memphis, Tennessee, Brooks Museum of Art) and Poussin's Adoration of the Shepherds (London, National Gallery). SALESROOM NOTICE We are grateful to Dr. Rudi Ekkart who has suggested that these panels are not by Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy, but by an as yet unidentified hand working within the circle of Pickenoy.