Dutch School. His principal works are small genre pictures, of which examples are given below, but he also painted portraits.
THE PEACE OF MUNSTER The plenipotentiaries of Philip IV. of Spain and the delegates of the Dutch United Provinces assembled in the Rath-haus at Munster on May 15, 1648, to ratify the treaty of peace.
Signed and dated 1648.
Presented in 1871 by Sir Richard Wallace, who purchased it from the Demidoff Collection for 182,000 francs.
LONDON, WALLACE COLLECTION
A LADY READING A LETTER “A young lady of fair complexion and light hair tastefully disposed in ringlets falling on her shoulders, seated (half to right) at a table on which she leans both arms, while she attentively peruses a letter. Her dress consists of a yellow silk corset (jacket) bordered with ermine and a scarlet silk skirt; a turkey carpet covers the table; a screen stands behind her, and a basket containing a napkin and a cushion is by her side. The figure is seen to the ankles. A beautiful example of the master.” (Smith.)
PARIS, LOUVRE
LE GALANT MILITAIRE To the left of a table covered with a red velvet cloth, spread with dishes of fruit, a woman richly attired in white satin with a blue velvet bodice trimmed with ermine is seated with a glass in her right hand. At her right side the officer is sitting with his purse in his hand on his left knee, and some coins in the other, at which the lady is looking. In the background is a four-post bed with the curtains drawn, and on the left a stone chimney-piece.
AMSTERDAM
CONSEIL PATERNEL A group of three figures in the centre of a lofty, sparsely furnished bedroom. To the left a tall girl stands with her back to us m a plain white satin dress with full sleeves and skirt, the bodice striped with black, and a very broad black collar or tippet. To the right a young officer seated in profile on a chair, his right leg crossed over his left, with his large feathered hat held with his left hand in his lap, raises his right hand as he addresses the girl. Between there is an elderly lady in black seated, facing us, drinking a glass of wine. To the left of the girl is a stool and a table covered with a red cloth, on which are a candlestick, books, etc., and in the background a curtained bed. On the right is a dog.
A replica of this picture, with very slight variations and without the dog, is at Berlin (No. 791, size 0.70 x 0.60), and of the girl alone, standing with the table pushed farther to the right and the curtains of the bed slightly open, at Dresden (No. 1832, size 0.39 x 0.27). Another replica is at Bridgwater House. The officer would seem to be the girl’s brother rather than her father.
DRESDEN
AN OFFICER WRITING Seated on a stool at the left of a bare wooden table in front of a tall chimney-piece is a young officer in undress, bareheaded, writing a letter. On the right side of the table stands an orderly turned half to left, but his heal turned to us, his hands folded, apparently waiting for the letter. The light falls from the left.
A LADY WASHING HER HANDS A young woman in a white satin dress (not the same as in No. 1832) stand’s in profile to right washing her hands over a pewter dish held by a plump servant-woman in her left hand, while she pours water into it out of a ewer with her right. To the left, in a corner of the room, is a table covered with a patterned cloth, and in the foreground a little dog sitting up on the floor.
MUNICH
THE LOVE LETTER The scene is a bedroom, but the accessories are not the same as in Conseil Paternel. In the centre stands facing us a young woman in a white satin skirt, jacket edged with white fur, and a white kerchief tied under her chin. On the left a young soldier elaborately dressed, with a cloak with a large hanging sleeve, offers her a letter. She turns her head towards him as if in doubt, with both hands thrust under her jacket. On the right behind a table stands a maid holding a flat silver basin and ewer, and she looks at the other two in surprise; while in front of the table a little dog on a stool is starting up.
This and the pictures at Amsterdam (No. 570) and Dresden (No. 1829) have been considered incidents in a story, but the characters here are certainly different.
A BOY AND HIS DOG The boy is seated on a low rush chair facing us, looking down, as with both hands he is taking a tick from the neck of a spaniel which lies on his knees. On the left, in the corner of the room where he sits, is a table with paper and an inkpot, and in the foreground the boy’s large hat on a low box.
BERLIN
THE CONCERT In the right-hand corner of a room, her back against the plain wall, a girl sits facing us playing a spinet. In the foreground to the left another girl sits on a stool with her back to us playing a viola. She is dressed in a dark bodice, full white satin skirt, and fur tippet. Her right arm and hand are fully extended downwards holding the bow.