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Interior of a Painter's Studio

Jan Davidsz. de Heem (Dutch, 1606–about 1684)
about 1630

Medium/Technique Oil on panel
Dimensions 58 × 81 cm (22 13/16 × 31 7/8 in.)
Framed: 68.9 × 96.5 × 5.7 cm (27 1/8 × 38 × 2 1/4 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession Number2020.407
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
This depiction of a solitary painter seems to be De Heem’s response, two years later, to Rembrandt’s Artist in His Studio. De Heem and Rembrandt both worked in the university town of Leiden before Rembrandt left for Amsterdam in 1631. Unlike Rembrandt’s barren studio, De Heem’s space is filled with various props: a volume of prints on the table, a viola da gamba, an oak panel leaning against the wall, and a plaster cast of a Michelangelesque statue. Rather than focusing on the thought process before beginning to paint, De Heem highlights the equal challenge of sketching out a composition.

ProvenanceFirst quarter of the 19th century, probably on the art market in France [see note 1]. 1950s, sold by the Galerie Pierre Lamy, Paris, to a Mr. Frenkiel, Paris [see note 2]; 2002, sold by Mr. Frenkiel to a private collector, France; about 2019, sold from this French private collection to Salomon Lilian (dealer), Amsterdam and Geneva; 2020, sold by Salomon Lilian to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA; 2020, gift of Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 16, 2020)

NOTES:
[1] The verso of the panel has remnants of an old, French language newspaper, probably dating to the early nineteenth century and possibly from the Journal General de France. [2] According to dealer Salomon Lilian (communication to the MFA, 2020).