Two Nude Children with a Basket of Grapes
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 64 x 46 cm h x w x d: Ram 91 x 74 x 10 cm
Inventory numberNM 602
AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum (Tessin-Fredrik I 1749)
Other titlesTitle (sv): Två nakna barn med vindruvor Title (en): Two Nude Children with a Basket of Grapes
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 66: Technical notes: The painting’s support is a composite oak panel. The main section is a rectangle comprising three horizontal butt-joined boards with a horizontal grain and measures c. 52–53 x 35–36 cm, the approximate size of a closely related version of the composition formerly on the Dutch art market (Amsterdam, J. Goudstikker, 1929; see Larsen 1988, II, no. 315). This panel was subsequently extended by the addition of narrower wood strips along all four edges, measuring resp. c. 7.5–8 cm (top), 2.5–3 cm (bottom), 3 cm wide (left) and 5.5 cm (right). The present composite panel has been thinned, an oak veneer applied to the back and a cradle attached. Conservation records indicate that the panel was cradled in 1944. It has not been possible to determine when the panel was expanded. A dendrochronological examination of the main section of the panel could not be carried out due to the added wood strips along the edges and the cradle and backing material prevented a dating of the additions. The lower ground layer of the main section of the panel, like that of the additions, consists of a white layer, probably containing natural chalk bound in glue, which hides the underlying wood grain. In the main section, this lower layer is followed by a very thin light greyishbrown imprimatura, probably oil-bound, with a streaked appearance, clearly visible in the infrared reflectogram mosaic, but absent from the area of the additions. Infrared reflectography revealed traces of a dark underdrawing in a dry material, probably black chalk, around the main forms, particularly the babies’ heads, hands, legs and feet. There followed a broad brush-applied underpainted sketch in a fluid dark paint, summarily indicating facial features and strands of hair and reinforcing outlines. The figural group was held in reserve when the background was filled in. No major compositional changes could be discovered, only slight contour adjustments as, for example, the widened contour of the standing baby’s buttocks and thigh on the left. Paint is applied in opaque and semi-transparent layers, thinly and with vigorous brushstrokes in the dark greenish background, more thickly in the smoothly blended yellowish pink flesh tones, with high impasto in the lights on the forehead, right shoulder, upper arm and right thigh of the standing baby on the left, and the lower back of the seated baby on the right, as well as in the yellowish curls of hair of the standing baby. The expanded area of the panel was painted to match the greenish background of the original composition, broadly overlapping areas of the original paint layer. As the basket of fruit at the lower right, which is partially executed on the additions at the right and bottom, has a seamless appearance with the portion of the basket painted on the main section, this design element seems to have been added at the time of the expansion of the panel. The main section of the panel has suffered some damages, including several horizontal checks extending the full width of its three oak boards, c. 19.8 cm from the top edge, 41.5 cm from the top edge and 6.5 cm from the bottom edge. Retouching covers losses of ground and paint layers along the horizontal and vertical joins between boards. Slight abrasion and losses also occur along the left and bottom edges and at the top corners. The paint layer shows localized flaking along the horizontal wood grain. There are scattered retouches in the figures, in the top of the standing baby’s head, in his buttocks and right leg, in the left shoulder of the seated baby. Areas of the background were repainted, at the top and the left side of the composite panel. The painting underwent conservation treatment in 1868, 1869, 1926, 1943 and 1977. Provenance: Bought by Carl Gustaf Tessin at an auction in Paris 1741; Coll. Carl Gustaf Tessin, no. 27 (as Peter Paul Rubens); Tessin-Fredrik I-Lovisa Ulrika 1749, no. 102 (as Anthony van Dyck); Lovisa Ulrika 1760, no. 35 (as Peter Paul Rubens); Bought by the State 1777; Gustav III 1792, no. 7; KM 1795, no. 101; KM 1816, no. 713. Exhibited: Stockholm 1945, no. 84; Stockholm 1977, no. 74; Stockholm 2010, no. 27. Bibliography: Von Breda 1791, p.166 (as Peter Paul Rubens); Sander I, p. 55 no. 27, p. 73, no. 35 (as Peter Paul Rubens); Sander II, p. 101, no. 7 (as Peter Paul Rubens); NM Cat. 1867, p. 29 (as copy after Anthony van Dyck); Göthe 1887, pp. 225–226 (as Peter Paul Rubens); Göthe 1893, pp. 277–278 (as Peter Paul Rubens); Granberg 1930, p. 158 (as Anthony van Dyck); Glück 1929, p. 259; Glück, 1931, p. 22; Glück, 1933, pp. 320, 414; Strömbom 1949, p. 86, no. 27; NM Cat. 1958, p. 67; Jaffé 1979, pp. 3–4; Larsen 1980, p. 94, no. 137; Larsen II, 1988, p. 129, no. 314; NM Cat. 1990, p. 124. This painting was purchased in Paris in 1741 by Carl Gustaf Tessin.1 It was then described as a Rubens, an attribution that endured until 1929 when Glück was able to demonstrate convincingly that it was an early work by Anthony van Dyck from c. 1617–1618. The influence of Rubens is, however, clearly evident in the swelling forms and the rich colour treatment with glazed areas of shadow and the highly pastose lighter elements. A closely related version of this composition of two nude boys was an oil sketch exhibited at the art dealer J. Goudstikker’s in Amsterdam in 1929. It was painted in oil on an oak panel, measuring 47 x 35 cm. On this panel were grouped studies of a single naked boy, one taken from almost the full back depicting him seated on a white cloth and another of him standing in profile from his right side. In the right corner was another study of his left arm and hand. This painting was convincingly attributed to Van Dyck and linked to the Nationalmuseum painting by Glück and Larsen.2 It was then described as a study for the Stockholm painting. The scale of the figures is identical but in the Nationalmuseum painting the arm has been replaced by a basket with grapes and wine leaves in the lower right corner. In the Nationalmuseum painting the right arm of the standing figure, shown bent at the elbow in the study, is extended to embrace the neck of the sitting figure while holding a bunch of the white grapes. A very light palette is used for the still life grey-green and yellow for the leaves and purple for the fruit. In comparing the two paintings, Jaffé (1979) came to the conclusion that the Nationalmuseum painting was made by an imitator. He found its colouring too sweet and differences in the outlines of the contours and in his opinion the whole spirit of the painting came closer to Boucher than Van Dyck. In this assumption he must however be corrected. The provenance denies it in the first place. The painting was bought in Paris 1741 by Carl Gustaf Tessin. Tessin was a friend of Boucher’s and bought several paintings from the artist e.g. The Daughters of Cecrops Discovering Erichthonius by Rubens (no. 153) He would not have sent a Boucher painting home under the name of Rubens as he did with this painting. The technical investigation of this work has further shown that the painting is clearly from the 17th century. A dendrochronological examination of the oak panel was not, however, possible due to its composite form. Barnes does not mention the Nationalmuseum painting in her catalogue raisonné of Van Dyck’s paintings (2003). Jaffé also discusses a third picture with the same height as the Stockholm painting although somewhat broader, painted on papier marouflé. It was formerly owned by Joshua Reynolds and then part of a private German collection before it turned up at a sale in New York.3 The standing figure is blowing soap bubbles from a pipe. The brush work has a rough vigour matched by a vibrant alternation of colour in the flesh of the two boys. A recent cleaning has, according to Jaffé, revealed a well preserved but unfinished Van Dyck from about 1617. Larsen, however, is of the opinion that this painting is a studio replica. The composition of the two nude boys must have been a very popular theme since it exists in so many variations (with or without attributes such as fruit or soap bubbles). In addition to the replicas by the artist and his studio it was also copied by followers in the 18th century. A version of mediocre quality, based on the Nationalmuseum painting, was sold on the French art market in 1952. GCB 1 Catalogue de Tableaux de Cabinet, Originaux. Trés-Bien Conditionnés. Don’t la Vente se fera dans une Salle des Grands Augustins, le Lundi 19 Juin & jours suivans, deux heures de relevée (1741), no. 2, les deux enfans de Rubens sur toil. Sent in August from Paris to Stockholm. Information given by Roger de Robelin. 2 See Larsen 1988, II, p. 129, no. 315. 3 Oil on paper mounted on panel, 64.1 x 52.7, sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 30 January 1997, lot 227, and again at Christie’s, London, 25 April 2008, p. 105. See M. Jaffé, 1979, see also Larsen II, 1988, pp. 425–426, no. A 44 2(as a studio replica).
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