Adriaen van Ostade

John de Pesters, London (a wax seal with the armorials of the De Pesters family affixed to the reverse of the panel);

His sale, London, Prestage, 1 April 1756, lot 28, for £18–7s;

Where acquired by Sir William Beckford, Lord Mayor of London (1709–1770);

By descent to his son, William Thomas Beckford (1760–1844), London;

His anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 27 February 1802, lot 70, for £50–8s (this and the previous lines relate to the present painting and its pendant, The Doctor);

Where acquired by Maurice Rubichon, London;

Private collection, Wassenaar, by 1973;

Thence by descent.

J. Smith, A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French painters, vol. I, London 1829, p. 142, no. 127;

C. Hofstede de Groot, A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch painters of the seventeenth century, based on the work of John Smith, London 1910, vol. III, p. 164, no. 75.

ENGRAVED

Charles Spooner (1720–1767), c. 1735–67; 

Richard Purcell (act. c. 1746–1768), c. 1740s–60s;

B. Richards (act. 1766–1770), 1760s–70s;

Anthony Walker (1726–1765), 1763;

Richard Houston (c. 1721–1775), c. 1770.

Note on Provenance

This painting was previously owned by Sir William Beckford: a British Whig politician, who twice served as Lord Mayor of London in 1762 and 1769. The picture, along with its pendant depicting a doctor in his study, signed and dated 1665 and now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin,¹ was engraved by Anthony Walker (1726–1765) in 1763.² An inscription along Walker's print's lower edge cites Beckford as the owner of both works.

Beckford's grandfather, Peter Beckford (c. 1643–1710), was Governor of Jamaica and reputedly owned 20 Jamaican estates, 1,200 slaves and left £1,500,000 in bank stock when he died. The vast majority of his wealth then passed to his son, Peter Beckford (c. 1672/3–1735), who in turn left his estate to his son, William. Although the family's fortune had long facilitated an interest in the arts, it was William Thomas Beckford, Sir William's son, in whose 1802 sale at Christie's the present painting appeared, who had the greatest appetite for collecting. Among hundreds of other works, his collection included Raphael's Saint Catherine of Alexandria of around 1507,³ Giovanni Bellini's Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan of 1501–2,⁴ and the Portrait of Philip IV of Spain, c. 1631–2, by Diego Velázquez,⁵ all of which are today in the National Gallery, London. He likewise owned Claude Lorrain's Sermon on the Mount of around 1656, now in the Frick Collection, New York.⁶ Like the present work, William Thomas inherited the Claude from his father.

¹ Ident. no. 855C; oil on oak panel, 28.3 x 22.9 cm.; https://id.smb.museum/object/862452/der-arzt-in-seinem-studierzimmer.

² An impression is in the British Museum, London: museum no. 1861,1109.210; engraving, 398 x 291 mm.; https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1861-1109-210.

³ Inv. no. NG168; oil on panel, 72.2 x 55.7 cm.; https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/raphael-saint-catherine-of-alexandria.

⁴ Inv. no. NG189; oil on panel, 61.4 x 44.5 cm.; https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/giovanni-bellini-doge-leonardo-loredan.

⁵ Inv. no. NG1129; oil on canvas, 195 x 110 cm.; https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/diego-velazquez-philip-iv-of-spain-in-brown-and-silver.

⁶ Accession no. 1960.1.162; oil on canvas, 171.5 x 259.7 cm.; https://collections.frick.org/objects/220/the-sermon-on-the-mount.