: The annual winter exhibition of Old Master Paintings at Jack
Kilgore & Co., January 19 to February 13, coincides with the
Old Master sales in New York. The main focus of the show will be
on Dutch and Flemish Seventeenth Century paintings.
This area of the Golden Age of Dutch painting will feature, from
the famous Netherlandish master Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617),
"Adam." The pendant to this newly rediscovered panel painting,
"Eve," is in the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Strasbourg. Until "Adam"
recently resurfaced, no information on its whereabouts or
existence was documented. "Eve" was in a French collection in
Dijon until the Strasbourg museum purchased the painting in 1936.
Most likely the two paintings were separated long before "Adam"
was included in the first retrospective devoted to Goltzius at
the Toledo Museum of Art, which ended on January 5.
The provenance of Samuel van Hoogstraten's (1627-1678) "Salmacis
and Hermaphroditus" can be traced back close to the time of its
execution when the painting belonged to the artists' neighbor
Johan de Jongh in Dordrecht. Although he resided most of his life
in Dordrecht, Hoogstraten migrated to Amsterdam for several
years, when he entered Rembrandt's studio. Of the many pupils of
Rembrandt, Hoogstraten is of particular interest due to his long
treatise on painting: "Inleyding to de hooge schoole der
schilderkonst, anders de zichtbaere werelt," in which he gives a
first-hand account of Rembrandt and his studio.
From the beginning of the Eighteenth Century "Still life of Game
with a Hare, Partridge and Hunting Gear" by Jan Weenix
(1642-1719). Around this time, the hunting still life had become
increasingly popular for stately wall decorations. By 1702, the
year before executing our "Still life of Game," Weenix had
achieved sufficient acclaim to become court painter to the
Elector Palatine John William of Dusseldorf, for whom he painted
12 large hunting scenes designed as wall panels for the elector's
lodge, Schloss Bensberg, near Cologne. When Goethe saw these
impressive works in situ in 1774, he claimed that Weenix had
surpassed nature in visually rendering every tactile value of his
subject.
In addition to the Dutch and Flemish paintings in the show, an
altarpiece by Luca Giordanoa (1634-1705) will be shown. His
"Virgin and Child with Souls in Purgatory" can be dated to circa
1665, the year of Giordano's first documented visit to Venice
from his native Naples. The Madonna depicted is actually known as
Our lady of Mount Carmel, indicated by the Brown Scapular held by
one of the putti surrounding her. In the Veneto region in the
Seventeenth Century, the Carmelite order was active and
established most impressive churches, such as the Chiesa di Santa
Maria di Nazareth.
The chronology of the exhibition continues with a French painting
of "Belisarius Begging Alms" by Nicolas Rene Jollain (1732-1804),
first show at the Salon in 1767 in Paris. Although Jollain is now
less well known than some of his contemporaries, his art was part
of the mid-Eighteenth Century Baroque revival in French religious
painting. Jollain was adept at maintaining the smooth forms of
the rococo style while incorporating fashionable neoclassical
subject matter or references. Jollain's "Belisarius Begging Alms"
was the inspiration of Jacques-Louis David rendition of 1781, one
of his masterpieces now in the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Lille.
The gallery is at 154 East 71st Street. Hours are Monday to
Friday, 10 am to 6 pm. For information, 212-650-1149.
