Govert Dircksz. Camphuysen
?Gorkum 1623/4 - ?Amsterdam 1672

An Amorous Couple with Rustics, Cattle, a Hen, Cat and a Dog in a Barn
signed G. Camphuysen in the lower right

oil on panel

28 7/8 x 21 3/8 inches 60.6 x 54.3 cm.)

PROVENANCE: Pieter Cornelis, Baron van Leyden and Heer van Vlaardingen (1717-1788) by whom bequeathed to his son; Diderick, Baron van Leyden and Heer van Vlaardingen (d. 1811), Huis met de Hoofden, Amsterdam by whom sold with the rest of his father’s painting collection to a consortium formed by L.B. Coclers, Alexander Joseph Paillet and A. de Lespinasse de Langeac; Sale, Paillet-Delaroche, Paris, November 7, (3rd day), 1804 (delayed from June 5, 1804) lot 14, where purchased by Hypolite Delaroche, art dealer, possibly for Lucien Bonaparte, Prince de Canino (1775-1840), (so stated in an annotated copy of the sale catalogue recorded in the Getty Provenance index); Alexandre Joseph Paillet (1743-1814) sale, Paillet-Chariot, Paris, June 2, 1814, lot 3, where purchased by Charles Paillet or Antoine de Sauzay; Adolphe Schloss (1842-1910), Paris from whose heirs at the Château de Chambon, near Tulle, in April 1943, the work was confiscated; Pre-empted from export to Germany by the Louvre, Paris and subsequently restituted by the Louvre in 1945 to the heirs of Adolphe Schloss; Estate of M. Adolphe Schloss sale, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, December 5, 1951, lot 8 where acquired by Professor René Küss until 2006

LITERATURE: Dr. Alfred von Wurzbach, “Govaert Camphuysen I” in Niederlandisches Künstler-Lexikon, vol. I, Wien und Leipzig, Verlag von Halm und Goldmann, 1906, p. 240
E. Benezit, “Govert Dircksz Camphuysen” in Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, vol. 2, Libraire Gründ, Paris, 1976, p. 485

In the luminescent interior of a barn a maid and farm-hand cavort. A carrot has been suggestively placed in the maid’s lap. In the foreground an overturned hat lays alongside a spilt basket of carrots and pot lids. Two herdsmen to the right leeringly follow the action. This work, which must be regarded as one of Camphuysen’s masterpieces, is closely related to another panel by the artist entitled Rustic Gallantry in the Koninklijke Museum, Brussels. Of similar size and subject they both most likely date from circa 1650, a period regarded as one in which Camphuysen was at the height of his powers. These panels are part of a small group of works within the artist’s oeuvre that recall the paintings of Isack van Ostade, in this case particularly The Halting Place in the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, as well as those of Cornelis Saftleven and Egbert van der Poel. More typical are Camphuysen’s scenes that resemble Paulus Potter and landscapes influenced by Aert van der Neer.

The provenance of the painting is of particular importance, having been part of the eighteenth century collection of Pieter Cornelis, Baron van Leyden. He is best known as the most important of all Dutch print collectors whose collection forms the core of the Rijksprentenkabinett (see J.W. Niemeijer, “Baron von Leyden, Founder of the Amsterdam Print Collection”, Apollo, June 1983, pp. 461-468). His painting collection consisted of 126 works, almost all Dutch, that were divided between his two houses, no. 48 Rapenburg, Leiden (still standing), and Abtspoel Castle, near Leiden. Included in the collection were outstanding works such as Johannes Vermeer’s The Concert (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston), Rembrandt’s Portrait of Jacob III de Gheyn (Dulwich Picture Gallery, London), Gerard ter Borch’s Swearing of the Oath of Ratification of the Treaty of Münster and Pieter de Hooch’s Interior with a Woman Drinking with Two Men and a Maidservant (both National Gallery, London), Jan van Goyen’s Winter Scene near the Ruins of Merwede Castle, (Louvre, Paris) and two Italianate landscapes by Jan Both now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington and the Wallace Collection, London. Other notable paintings among the group were by Adam Pynacker, Adriaen Brouwer, Gabriel Metsu and Caspar Netscher.

When his son Diderick inherited the collection it moved to the famous “House with the Heads” on the Keizersgracht, Amsterdam (see I.H. van Eeghen “Amoena Geertruyda Schey en de Kunstcollecties van Diederik Baron van Leyden,” Jaarboek Amstelodamum, 1973, pp. 137-165), and when sold most of the works were unrestored and in their original frames. The 1804 Paillet-Delaroche sale catalogue, the only detailed listing of the collection ever done, noted the provenance of the majority of the works as having been acquired directly from the artists by Van Leyden’s ancestors or purchased from Europe’s leading collections.

It is believed that Govert Dircksz. Camphuysen probably studied with his cousin Rafel Camphuysen in Amsterdam. By 1643 he was active as a portrait painter. By 1652 he was recorded as working in Gottorff in Schleswig-Holstein. By 1655 he was a court painter to Queen Hedwig Eleanora of Stockholm, and was further recorded there in 1659, 1661 and 1663. By 1665 he had returned to Amsterdam where he spent the rest of his life. ¹

¹ Biographical information taken from Richard Beresford, “Govert Camphuyzen” in Dulwich Picture Gallery, Unicorn Press, London, 1998, p. 59 and John Ingamells “Govert Dircksz Camphuysen” in The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Pictures, Dutch and Flemish, vol. IV, Balding and Mansell, London, 1992, p. 60.

Home Page | Upcoming | Catalog | About Us | Services | Search | Contact Us | Links