Hendrik Pothoven

a pair, the former: signed and dated upper left: H Pothoven f/ A o 1782. , the latter signed and dated centre left: HP (in ligature) othoven/ A o 1782. both oil on panel Quantity: 2 PROVENANCE Anonymous sale, Christie's, Laren, 10 April 1978, lot 429; With J. Hoogsteder, The Hague, by 1979. CATALOGUE NOTE Both paintings bear a label on the reverse most likely incorrectly identifying the sitters as Jean Scipion Vernède (born 1714) and Anna Jacoba van den Heuvel (1731). The labels were probably written by a great grandson, because another label on the reverse of the male portrait reads: mon bisaïeul, H.Vernède, 4 okt 1883. The female portrait also bears a label identifying the woman as Petronella Jeanne du Peyrou, which is most likely the correct identification. Jean Scipion died in 1779, three years before Pothoven painted the portraits. Jean Scipion's son, Jacob Henri, married Petronella Jeanne du Peyrou in 1781, and would have been 27 by the time Pothoven portrayed him and his wife. The entanglement of identities could have appeared, because Moes mentions a portrait of Jean Scipion Vernède by Hendrik Pothoven. However this portrait is dated 1768.1

Hendrick Pothoven (Amsterdam 1725-1795 The Hague) An extensive landscape with figures fishing and skating on the iceby a frozen port signed and inscribed 'H. Pothoven ad viv. deln.' black chalk, pen and grey ink, watercolour, traces of pen and greyink framing lines at the lower and left margins 175 x 240 mm. Provenance An unidentified British collector, his album page inscribed 'AWinter Scene near Amsterdam, by H. Potheren. [sic]'.

Hendrick Pothoven (1726-1807) A family portrait: a gentleman and his wife seated small fulllengths by a table in an interior; he wearing dark costume withlace chemise and wig; she wearing a blue silk dress with pearlnecklace, holding a fan; a miniature portrait of their deceased sonon the table nearby, a view on the garden beyond signed HPothoven (HP linked) lower left oil on canvas laid down on panel 87.4 x 77.6 cm Lot Notes The present lot is a characteristic "conversation piece", as itdeveloped in the 18th Century and whose major exponents wereCornelis Troost, Tibout Regters, Hieronymus Lapis and later onWybrand Hendriks and Adriaen de Lelie. As related by A. Staring theterm conversation piece was used for family group portraits withthe sitters depicted small full lengths in their domesticsurroundings. For inspiration, the 18th Century artists turned to17th Century prototypes, most notably by Gonzales Coques, Gillisvan Tilborch, Pieter de Hooch, Gabriel Metsu and Gerard ter Borch.The family in the present lot has not been identified, but it wasprobably an Amsterdam merchant, since Pothoven was the mostimportant portraitist in that city in the second half of the 18thCentury. It is probably to be dated to circa 1775 on the basis ofcomparison with the picture, signed and dated 1774 in theAmsterdams Historisch Museum (inv. no. A 22795). The room in whichthe couple is seated is probably the house's drawing room, whichwas situated on the bel-tage on the sunny side of the house withthe view on the garden. The window is a large format slidingwindow, an 18th Century invention. See illustration

237 H. Pothoven (1726-1795). Herfstavond 't water. Ges. in verso en1772. Gewassen O.I. inkt. 24 x 32. In passepartout. Ex collectieLannoy nr. 568. 1200-1400

Black chalk on cream laid paper. 179x134 mm; 71/8x53/8inches.