Jan Miense Molenaer (Haarlem 1609-1610 - 1668) The stone cutter Oil on panel, 44.7 x 34.4 cm Provenance: - Art Gallery P. de Boer, Amsterdam, 1945 - Private collection, The Netherlands N.B. I: Jan Miense Molenaer was born at the start of the Dutch Golden Age in Haarlem and is often named together with the most renowned Haarlem painters of his time, such as Adriaan van Ostade and Jan de Bray This pupil of Frans Hals married his own pupil in 1636, the well-known paintress Judith Leyster The marriage resulted in five children, of whom the son, Jan Molenaer II, followed in the footsteps of his parents by becoming a painter himself. Circa 1637 the family moved fom Haarlem to Amsterdam, where according to tradition the painter Jan Lievens was a lodger with the family. Miense Molenaer was subsequently commissioned to paint an extraordinarily large painting for the Van Loon family, depicting the famous regents Geelvinck, Alewijn and 35 other Amsterdam governors. Miense Molenaer died nine years after his wife, aged around 58, in Haarlem. His oeuvre contains portraits, some religious works, but mainly genre pieces, such as the painting offered here. Represented here is a serious looking, but quite frivolous scene: a 'stone cutter' (the bearded figure) treating an insane man. When a person was suffering from mental illness, they were thought to have a stone in their head, in this painting being removed by a quack. Such scenes, in which the figures wear theatrical costumes, were very amusing to the general public, but for learned doctors a true conservation piece. N.B. II: We are grateful to Mr. Fred Meijer of the RKD in The Hague for his assistance in cataloging this lot.
Jan Miense Molenaer (Haarlem 1609-1610 - 1668) The stone cutter Oil on panel, 44.7 x 34.4 cm Provenance: - Art Gallery P. de Boer, Amsterdam, 1945 - Private collection, The Netherlands N.B. I: Jan Miense Molenaer was born at the start of the Dutch Golden Age in Haarlem and is often named together with the most renowned Haarlem painters of his time, such as Adriaan van Ostade and Jan de Bray This pupil of Frans Hals married his own pupil in 1636, the well-known paintress Judith Leyster The marriage resulted in five children, of whom the son, Jan Molenaer II, followed in the footsteps of his parents by becoming a painter himself. Circa 1637 the family moved fom Haarlem to Amsterdam, where according to tradition the painter Jan Lievens was a lodger with the family. Miense Molenaer was subsequently commissioned to paint an extraordinarily large painting for the Van Loon family, depicting the famous regents Geelvinck, Alewijn and 35 other Amsterdam governors. Miense Molenaer died nine years after his wife, aged around 58, in Haarlem. His oeuvre contains portraits, some religious works, but mainly genre pieces, such as the painting offered here. Represented here is a serious looking, but quite frivolous scene: a 'stone cutter' (the bearded figure) treating an insane man. When a person was suffering from mental illness, they were thought to have a stone in their head, in this painting being removed by a quack. Such scenes, in which the figures wear theatrical costumes, were very amusing to the general public, but for learned doctors a true conservation piece. N.B. II: We are grateful to Mr. Fred Meijer of the RKD in The Hague for his assistance in cataloging this lot.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
