DOI Heft:
Nr. 3-4
DOI Artikel:Broos, Ben: Karel du Jardin, "Paul healing the crippled man at Lystra", 1663
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48916#0240
BEN J. BROOS
Mauritshuis, The Hague
Kareł Du Jardin, „Paul Healing the CrippledMan
atLystra”, 1663
In February 1894 Abraham Bredius, director of the
‘Mauritshuis’ Royal Picture Gallery wrote the
following in his notebook containing descriptions of
„Paintings, which the Directorate has been asked to
evaluate” (in translation): „K. du Jardin, Peter healing the
sick, almost life-size figures; authentic, must be relined. [It]
Comes from the Gockinga auction of 1883 in Amsterdam.”1
The subject of Du Jardin’s signed and dated painting
(„K. DU IARDIN fe (16)63”) is, in fact, not Peter but Paul
miraculously healing the crippled man at Lystra, as will be
shown later.
The painting described by Bredius has belonged to the
Piasecka-Johnson collection in Princeton sińce 1987 (ill. 1).
This stunning collection of Italian Renaissance masterpieces
and Spanish and Italian Baroąue works of art has been
assembled by Barbara Piasecka-Johnson in a remarkably
short time.2
When Bredius examined it, the painting was owned by
J. C. van Hattum van Ellewoudijk (1837-1909), lord of
Ellewoutsdijk etc., and a member of the municipal council
of the Elague from 1894. Bredius’s favourable opinion
persuaded Van Hattum to lend the painting to the
Mauritshuis for one year, and the loan agreement was
signed by both Van Hattum and assistant director Comelis
Hofstede de Groot on 18th April 1894.3
Bredius referred to the Gockinga sale held at ‘Pictura’
in Amsterdam ten years earlier, at which time he madę the
following notę in his copy of the catalogue: „good
draughtsmanship, central figurę [of] Peter unpleasant. The
nudę figurę to the left [is] important.”4 While the painting
was not mentioned in the review in De Nederlandsche
Spectator highlighting the showpieces of the auction, it was
noted in the report of the sale prices: apparently the
relatively high price paid for the painting (f 3000.-) came as
a surprise.5 After all, the provincial Gockinga collection
was rather unexciting and contained „many works by
interesting minor masters.”6 Jonkheer (roughly equivalent
to Sir or Squire) Wolter Gockinga (1812-1883), a lawyer
who had gone blind in the course of his life, died on 20th
January 1883. He had inherited the paintings from his
father Jonkheer Reneke Gockinga (1785-1848), who had
been a notary public in Groningen as well as a member of
the municipal court of justice and councilor for the
Groningen Provincial Court of Justice. In 1817 he was
raised into the Dutch aristocracy.7 Reneke’s collection may
have been partially amassed by his father, Henrik Gockinga
(1748-1832), govemor of the orphanage in Groningen.8 The
art dealer and connoisseur John Smith knew of the
Gockinga collection by 1834 and must have seen the
painting earlier in the art trade or elsewhere because he
wrote: „Now in a private collection at Groningen.”
Furthermore, it is noteworthy that Smith effortlessly
identified the correct subject of the painting, namely: „Paul
Healing the Impotent Man.”9
Initially the agreement was for the painting to be
exhibited at the Mauritshuis for one year, however, the
loan was tacitly prolonged until 1912. In 1897 the
Directorate wrote a letter recommending that the
painting be restored (at the owner’s expense) sińce „The
vamish [...] has become duli in several places, this can be
restored for a minor sum.”10 The lender’s grandson, J. C.
van Hattum, who inherited the painting upon the
former’s death in 1909, terminated the loan and the
painting was retumed to him personally on 21st June
1912 by the current director, Willem Martin.11 The
painting remained with the Van Hattum family until they
decided, unfortuitously, to put it up for auction in
London in 1987.12 Two Dutch museums, including the
Mauritshuis, madę serious attempts to acquire the
painting, but unsuccessfully. The price it fetched,
£341,000 (equivalent to $563,640), far exceeded the
estimate of £60,000 - 80,000.13
Biuletyn Historii Sztuki
R.LXI, 1997, Nr 3-4
218
Mauritshuis, The Hague
Kareł Du Jardin, „Paul Healing the CrippledMan
atLystra”, 1663
In February 1894 Abraham Bredius, director of the
‘Mauritshuis’ Royal Picture Gallery wrote the
following in his notebook containing descriptions of
„Paintings, which the Directorate has been asked to
evaluate” (in translation): „K. du Jardin, Peter healing the
sick, almost life-size figures; authentic, must be relined. [It]
Comes from the Gockinga auction of 1883 in Amsterdam.”1
The subject of Du Jardin’s signed and dated painting
(„K. DU IARDIN fe (16)63”) is, in fact, not Peter but Paul
miraculously healing the crippled man at Lystra, as will be
shown later.
The painting described by Bredius has belonged to the
Piasecka-Johnson collection in Princeton sińce 1987 (ill. 1).
This stunning collection of Italian Renaissance masterpieces
and Spanish and Italian Baroąue works of art has been
assembled by Barbara Piasecka-Johnson in a remarkably
short time.2
When Bredius examined it, the painting was owned by
J. C. van Hattum van Ellewoudijk (1837-1909), lord of
Ellewoutsdijk etc., and a member of the municipal council
of the Elague from 1894. Bredius’s favourable opinion
persuaded Van Hattum to lend the painting to the
Mauritshuis for one year, and the loan agreement was
signed by both Van Hattum and assistant director Comelis
Hofstede de Groot on 18th April 1894.3
Bredius referred to the Gockinga sale held at ‘Pictura’
in Amsterdam ten years earlier, at which time he madę the
following notę in his copy of the catalogue: „good
draughtsmanship, central figurę [of] Peter unpleasant. The
nudę figurę to the left [is] important.”4 While the painting
was not mentioned in the review in De Nederlandsche
Spectator highlighting the showpieces of the auction, it was
noted in the report of the sale prices: apparently the
relatively high price paid for the painting (f 3000.-) came as
a surprise.5 After all, the provincial Gockinga collection
was rather unexciting and contained „many works by
interesting minor masters.”6 Jonkheer (roughly equivalent
to Sir or Squire) Wolter Gockinga (1812-1883), a lawyer
who had gone blind in the course of his life, died on 20th
January 1883. He had inherited the paintings from his
father Jonkheer Reneke Gockinga (1785-1848), who had
been a notary public in Groningen as well as a member of
the municipal court of justice and councilor for the
Groningen Provincial Court of Justice. In 1817 he was
raised into the Dutch aristocracy.7 Reneke’s collection may
have been partially amassed by his father, Henrik Gockinga
(1748-1832), govemor of the orphanage in Groningen.8 The
art dealer and connoisseur John Smith knew of the
Gockinga collection by 1834 and must have seen the
painting earlier in the art trade or elsewhere because he
wrote: „Now in a private collection at Groningen.”
Furthermore, it is noteworthy that Smith effortlessly
identified the correct subject of the painting, namely: „Paul
Healing the Impotent Man.”9
Initially the agreement was for the painting to be
exhibited at the Mauritshuis for one year, however, the
loan was tacitly prolonged until 1912. In 1897 the
Directorate wrote a letter recommending that the
painting be restored (at the owner’s expense) sińce „The
vamish [...] has become duli in several places, this can be
restored for a minor sum.”10 The lender’s grandson, J. C.
van Hattum, who inherited the painting upon the
former’s death in 1909, terminated the loan and the
painting was retumed to him personally on 21st June
1912 by the current director, Willem Martin.11 The
painting remained with the Van Hattum family until they
decided, unfortuitously, to put it up for auction in
London in 1987.12 Two Dutch museums, including the
Mauritshuis, madę serious attempts to acquire the
painting, but unsuccessfully. The price it fetched,
£341,000 (equivalent to $563,640), far exceeded the
estimate of £60,000 - 80,000.13
Biuletyn Historii Sztuki
R.LXI, 1997, Nr 3-4
218