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Young Woman Holding a Fan
Jacob Adriaensz. Backer (Dutch, 1608 or 1609–1651)
about 1645
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
69 x 57.2 cm (27 1/8 x 22 1/2 in.)
Framed: 96.5 x 81.3 cm (38 x 32 in.)
Framed: 96.5 x 81.3 cm (38 x 32 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession Number2017.4198
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
This woman invites our attention. Viewers at the time would have recognized her flirtatious glance, loose hair, and low neckline as evidence she was a prostitute. Jacob Backer, who did not travel to Italy, took inspiration from Dutch painters who did, such as Honthorst and other artists on this wall.
Provenance1653, possibly the family of Dirrick Backer (brother of the artist), Amsterdam [see note 1]. Herbert Leyendecker (dealer, b. 1885 - d. 1958), Berlin [see note 2]. November 9, 1995, anonymous sale, Hugo Ruef Auktionen, Munich, lot 1229 [see note 3], to Bob Haboldt (dealer), Paris and New York; 1996, sold by Bob Haboldt to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA; 2017, gift of Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 14, 2017)
NOTES:
[1] Possibly "A woman tronie [head] with a plume" ("een vrouwe tronie met een pluijm op Jacob Backer") in the inventory of goods belonging to the children of the artist's deceased brother (April 26, 1653). See J. D. Wagner, "Nieuwe Gegevens omtrent Jacob Backer," Oud-Holland 40 (1922), p. 32.
[2] According to an undated, annotated photograph in the Artist Files of the Walther and Ellen Bernt Collection (Harvard University, Fine Arts Library, Special Collections, Box 2), the painting was with "Leyendecker," almost certainly the German dealer Herbert Leyendecker. Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, VI (Landau, 1983), p. 3689, cat. no. 2176, states that it belonged to "W. [sic] Leyendecker" of Berlin, citing the Bernt archive. The earlier provenance Sumowski gives for the painting (Fischhoff sale, Paris, June 15, 1915; sale date actually June 14, 1913) is incorrect and applies to a different Jacob Backer painting.
[3] As "Halbporträt einer jungen Musikantin."
NOTES:
[1] Possibly "A woman tronie [head] with a plume" ("een vrouwe tronie met een pluijm op Jacob Backer") in the inventory of goods belonging to the children of the artist's deceased brother (April 26, 1653). See J. D. Wagner, "Nieuwe Gegevens omtrent Jacob Backer," Oud-Holland 40 (1922), p. 32.
[2] According to an undated, annotated photograph in the Artist Files of the Walther and Ellen Bernt Collection (Harvard University, Fine Arts Library, Special Collections, Box 2), the painting was with "Leyendecker," almost certainly the German dealer Herbert Leyendecker. Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, VI (Landau, 1983), p. 3689, cat. no. 2176, states that it belonged to "W. [sic] Leyendecker" of Berlin, citing the Bernt archive. The earlier provenance Sumowski gives for the painting (Fischhoff sale, Paris, June 15, 1915; sale date actually June 14, 1913) is incorrect and applies to a different Jacob Backer painting.
[3] As "Halbporträt einer jungen Musikantin."