Attributed to Jan Porcellis

Dr. Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863-1930), The Hague (L.561);

Dr. Albert Welcker (1884-1957), Amsterdam (L.2793c and L.6243 both partially effaced);

Dr. Einar Perman (1893-1976), Stockholm,

by descent to the present owners

C.J. Welcker, Hendrik Avercamp en Barent Avercamp, rev. ed., Doornspijk 1979, pp. 337, 339, cats. B.A. T5, B.A. T 14.5, reproduced fig. LXXIII, plate XLIV (as Barent Avercamp)

Laren, Singer Museum, Oude Tekeningen uit de Nederlanden. Verzameling Prof. E. Perman, Stockholm, 1962, cat. 86 (as Jan Porcellis)

Sheets like this, in which the artist has placed a number of individual, unrelated figure studies in rows across the page, are relatively rare in 17th-century Dutch art, and the attributions of those that are known are discussed. Welcker (see Literature) gave some, including the present work, to Barend Avercamp (1612/13-1679). Others, not totally dissimilar to this, are generally thought to be by Willem van de Velde the Elder (1610-1693); typical examples of Van de Velde drawings of this type are in Weimar, in Edinburgh, and formerly in the Perman Collection.¹

Yet in the end, the handling is a little different, suggesting that the attribution to Porcellis, first proposed for the Laren exhibition of 1962, should for now at least be retained. It is perhaps worth bearing in mind that the cataloguing of that exhibition was overseen by three great Dutch drawings specialists: I.Q. van Regteren Altena, K.G. Boon, and L.C.J. Frerichs.

^1.Respectively: Stiftung Weimarer Klassik und Kunstsammlungen Weimar, inv. KK 5550;, Edinburgh, National Galleries Scotland inv. D 2789; sale, London, Sotheby's, 4 July 2024, lot 138