Lot 59: PIETER FONTIJN DORDRECHT 1773 - 1839

signed and dated lower left: P. FONTIJN/ 1814

oil on panel

A KITCHEN INTERIOR WITH A MOTHER HOLDING A PLATE OF FISH, A BABY SLEEPING IN A CRADLE, AND A WOMAN HOLDING A BUCKET OF FISH STANDING NEXT TO A TABLE, A VIEW OF THE PANTRY BEYOND

70.3 by 85.6 cm.

Douairière W.R.A.C. Graaf van Rechteren Limpurg, Dordrecht;
Her sale, Dordrecht, A. Mak, 10-12 November 1953, lot 3;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Mak van Waay, 24 June 1958, lot 62;
With Gebr. Douwes, Amsterdam;
Sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 27 October 1999, lot 134.

Pieter Fontijn was strongly influenced by the painted interior scenes of his fellow-artist and townsman Abraham van Strij (1753-1826). Fontijn became a member of the local artist's society Pictura in 1807 and painted mostly interiors with an anekdotic and often humoristic tendency. A comparable signed work, showing an Interior with an amateur violin-player, is in the Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht (inv. no. DM/850/41).