PIETER LOFVERS (Groningen 1712 – Groningen 1788)
A Dutch Man-o’ War and Trading Vessels off a Rocky Headland; and Dutch Merchant Flutes Inshore off a Rocky Coastline: A Pair of Paintings
Man-o’ War signed and inscribed in the lower left P Lofvers invendo (?): and Merchant Flutes signed and dated in the lower left P. Lofvers / 1770
both oil on panel
each 10 x 14 inches (26.7 x 35.5 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Anonymous sale, Parke – Bernet Galleries, New York, October 25, 1953, lot 6
Veerhoff Galleries, Washington, D.C.
Private Collection, Scotland
Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam
LITERATURE
Hofstede de Groot, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, fiche no. 1289918
Pieter Lofvers was a marine and landscape painter who spent his whole career in Groningen. He was a student of Abel Wassenburg. He married Fennegyn Hendriks with whom he had six children. His son Hendrick was a painter of marines, landscapes, portraits and still lifes. In Michel Bryan’s Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, first published in 1813 – 1816, Lofvers entry stated that he “painted sea views with great ability” and that they were in large demand in England, France and Hamburg. Four paintings by the artist were formerly in the collection of the Kendell Whaling Museum, Sharon, Massachusetts, now part of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts. Five others are in the Groningen Museum including a pair similar to ours, as well as a self-portrait that shows Lofvers standing next to a portrait of his wife and child.[1]
Executed in strong colors which are defined by the dramatic contrasting of light and dark areas, this pair of marines represents the extent of the power of the Dutch maritime forces. The rocky coast with fir trees and two merchants and a dog on a precipice represents the far northern reaches of their commercial ventures, while the panel with a shepherd and his flock the southernmost. The choppy seas and oncoming storm clouds in both underscore the consistent dangers these vessels faced.
[1] Biographical information taken from “Pieter Lofvers” in Bryan’s Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, volume III, Kennikat Press, Inc., Port Washington, N.Y., 1964 p. 239; E.H.H. Archibald, “Pieter Lofvers” in The Dictionary of Sea Painters of Europe and America, Antique Collector’s Club, Woodbridge, England, 2000, p. 179”; and Pieter Jochums Lofvers on rkd.nl (RKD Explore) website.