Katwijk in 1868

This is Katwijk in 1868, as seen from the dunes, through the eyes of Master Willem van Deventer.
The painting (37 x 50 cm) is for sale at Wendl in Rudolstadt. A similar work, but bigger, is on display in the Katwijk Museum, a loan from the Rijksmuseum. The Katwijk museum owns a fine collection of marine painting and is worth a visit, especially since the recent renovation and expansion. Closed on Sundays.

Arthur Briët, the bath carriage

The year that the young Arthur Briët painted this work, 1888, was his last at the Antwerp art academy.
In the same year he won the first prize "consisting of two medals, one gold and one silver, besides books." In 1886, he had already won a considerable Dutch cash prize. After Antwerp he could therefore stay a while in Paris. But finally he arrived in Nunspeet, Netherlands, where he lived in a farmhouse, which he had rebuild in half authentic state, in order to use it as the setting for his interiors. This panel (10.5 x 15.5 cm) was for sale at Bonhams, Knightsbridge.

The sensitive bomber: Thorn Prikker

Johan Thorn Prikker lived in Visee, Belgium for several years.
There he painted colorful abstract works, even before abstraction in painting was widely accepted. The Hague art establishment, united in Pulchri Studio, once the center of the Hague School didn't like it at all, found it a disgrace. And Prikker, who was not afraid of a verbal fight, wished his colleagues all the worst. "A nice little bomb" should be thrown into this "Pulchri junk, then they would wake up from their sleep, those chaps". But when writing this Thorn Prikker was not yet the famous applied arts professor in Germany. He uttered much of these youthful anarchist expressions in his correspondence with Henri Borel (published by Joosten), a correspondence that is amongst the nicest, and strangely enough also most sensitive art historical literature we have, including Vincents letters. This work was for sale at Christies.

Pilot Cutter, Jan Maandag

The Vlisssingen 4 is a pilot cutter, on its way to a customer.
The painter of this watercolor (16 x 23 cm) is Jan Maandag, who painted it in the second half of the nineteenth century. The pilot cutters had to race, because whoever reached the ship first, got the job. They were very fast sailing ships, even at high seas. They had an ax shaped bow, and when they were eventually replaced by steam boats, sailing became a pastime for the rich and many pilot cutters were converted to racing boats.

Joop Moesman for charity

It is not possible to write a boring book about the Utrecht surrealist J.H. Moesman, said the NRC in 1998 on the occasion of a Moesman exhibition in Arnhem.
"This contrarian artist, who earns a living with a completely stupid job in the Dutch Railways is an ideal target for a biographer. And not just because he is arguably the most important surrealist painter that the Netherlands have produced. "Willie" Moesman (1909 - 1988) was a passionate man who eagerly propagated his social and artistic conceptions. A troublemaker and fastidious seeker of controvesy who imposed strict conditions on the way in which his work should be exhibited. An environmental activist avant la lettre, who advocated the separation of garbage as early as the seventies. A grumpy pain-in-the-ass who was feared for his unbridled temper. And a man who made ​​no secret of his sado-masochistic orientation." The work shown here was available at the Kiwanis art auction. That's a benefit auction that is held each year in Utrecht.

Arie Zwart not fit for Tefaf

Art dealer Willem de Winter praised a painting by Arie Zwart in a populair Dutch art program.
Arie Zwart is a very good painter, who's fame is increasing, Winter said, and he was right. Yet art dealers like Winter wouldn't dare to display paintings by the artist on art shows like Pan or Tefaf. They know already in advance that these will not pass the jury. (It seems that an English Tefaf juror once tried to have all the paintings of Jan Sluijters removed, them being ... "Not of interest to the Tefaf public" ...) This painting (60 x 50 cm) was made by Zwart in Ibiza, where he repeatedly stayed. It was for sale at Derksen Auction Company in Arnhem.

Toorop draws in the Zeeland dunes

In Zeeuws Veilinghuis, auctioneers in Middelburg, Netherlands, several drawings of Jan Toorop were on sale.
They sometimes fetch large to very large amounts, but it is an art in itself to know which ones are valuable and which are not. Much depends on date. Toorop just glued different pieces of paper together when a drawing did not fit, as can be seen from this company in the dunes. It was made in Zoutelande in 1903. One has to be accustomed with Toorop's oeuvre to appreciate these kinds of unpretentious works.

Christie's turns back on Amsterdam

Christie's will reduce its activities in the Netherlands.
That means a new opportunity for the better Dutch auction houses, who will be happy to assist former Christie clients. Art dealer Frank Buunk is positive: "... this also means more business for the art traders, which is beneficial for buyers and sellers. They do not have to pay commission to the auction house." As if art dealers make no profits. Willem Baars, self declared connoisseur of art, who considers 95% of all auctioned paintings fit for the waste bin anyway (and he decides what should remain) is positive too: "Why would Christie's auction paintings of swampy polders or boring flower arrangements in Amsterdam, while in London and New York top pieces go under the hammer?"

Beautiful seamstress by Israëls

If Jozef Israels was not completely satisfied with a painting, he sometimes said: "The work hasn't gone out of it yet."
You should not be able to see the effort. The aim of Israel was to show the beauty and emotion in the everyday subjects. Jacob Maris summarized it nicely. He compared Israel with other famous painter. "The other depicts a head, like nobody else can, Israëls does it in a way you will never forget." This beautiful seamstress (42 x 27 cm) is for sale at Sotheby's in New York.

Piet Wiegman's cigar box painting

This landscape, (10 x 27 cm) was painted on the lid of a cigar box by Piet Wiegman.
It was probably made ​​in the twenties when Wiegman and his family stayed in Thorn, Limburg. There Wiegman became friends with the legendary doctor, painter and collector Henry Wiegersma, who was a major influence on anyone, and hence on Wiegman. The doctor encouraged him to work on larger sizes, and engage with the applied arts. This modest painting was for sale in the November auction of Venduehuis in The Hague.

Bernard van Leer and his circus

In this circus scene of Willy Sluiter (11 x 17 cm) we see the audience in tails.
In tails? Yes. The circus Kavaljos was a hobby of the wealthy barrel manufacturer and great philanthropist Bernard van Leer. He established the circus in 1935 and occasionally took it on a tour. Relatives and office staff had to participate, as an acrobat, as chief speaker, or even as a lion. Van Leer himself did an act with horses. Business relations were invited and were felt obliged to make a large contribution. The proceeds went to one of the many charities. How this circus played a role in the incredibly cunning way in which the Jewish Van Leer managed to stay out of the hands of the Germans is a fascinating story, which can be found elsewhere on the internet. The watercolor was for sale at Onderdeboompjes auctioneers in Leiden.

Melder learned from Rosalba

In the early eighteenth century dutch artist Gerard Melder  obtained some miniatures of the then famous Venetian artist Rosalba Carriera.
By meticulously copying those small works he learned the technique, and began a successful series of mini copies of famous Dutch seventeenth-century works of Gerard Dou and others. The miniature fashion was indebted to the rise of snuff in the eighteenth century, because of the lid decorations of snuff boxes. But sometimes Melder made landscapes like this one (17 x 24 cm). For sale at Jenschke Van Vliet, Berlin.

Iconography, sense and nonsense

Imagine a painting on panel from the late Middle Ages. What we see is clear enough: Joseph at work in his carpentry workshop while the baby Jesus plays on the floor with wood shavings. On the street we see a pig. His muzzle looks just inside the doorway. We see numerous tools in the workshop and there is a whole stock of mousetraps.

Mousetraps? This is less strange then it seems. Joseph makes mousetraps, a logical ocupation for a carpenter. But with art historical spectacles on our noses we see a deeper layer. The art historian is capable of analyzing this image. He has an auxiliary science at hand: the iconology. This is the science that teaches us what things actually mean. An arrow through a heart means affected by infatuation. A dog stands for loyalty. A pearl? Purity. An opened oyster? This is an erotic symbol.

Co Breman, Dutch pointilist

This painting by Co Breman is an example of the pointilistic style, which didn't have many reprrsentatives in the Netherlands.
Breman was a painter from the beautiful and prosperous area of Het Gooi, but he was more than that. He was a very social man, who was a fixed anchor point in the artistic life, and thus in Hotel Hamdorff, where lots of artists assembled. He was an advocate of preserving the landscape in Het Gooi and being always financially successful himself, he cared for the less fortunate colleagues. For sale at Van Spengen in Hilversum.

Ni Radjih in copy

Indonesian beauty Ni Radjih was a favorite of painter Rudolf Bonnet, but also of the great Indonesian leader Sukarno.
Recently auctioned in the Zeeuws Veilinghuis auction a beautiful portrait of the graceful young Ni Radjih (she is shown twice). The work shown here was for sale at auction Steffens in Etelsen, Germany, and is catalogued as a real Bonnet. It is in fact a copy of the work in the collection is Sukarno, who purchased it from the painter allthough it was not for sale.

Schelfhout saved from the fire

In 1865, the Museum Boymans, then located in the Gemeenschapshuis Schieland of Rotterdam, was hit by a fire, in which hundreds of masterpieces were lost.
On the ground floor the Rotterdam Art Academy was located, of which all its plaster models were lost. There were a few brave locals who, with police and firefighters ventured inside, and were able to save 180 paintings. Here a beach scene by Andreas Schelfhout. Perhaps it is this small painting (27 x 40 cm), which is for sale at Bonhams, London, as the papers specifically noted the rescue of such a scene by the then very famous painter.