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Catalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 98:

Technical notes: The painting’s original support,
now lined, is a single piece of medium-weight, loosely
woven, plain weave, single-threaded fabric, with a weave
count per cm of c. 10 horizontal and c. 12 vertical
threads, of similar construction to that of no. 99. The
tacking edges of the original fabric support have been
cropped, and the painting is attached to a non-original
stretcher at the tacking edges of the lining fabric. No
cusping is visible, indicating that the painting may have
been slightly cut down along all four edges.
The ground layer, which appears to be light-coloured
and is thinly and evenly applied, is covered by a semitransparent
light brown imprimatura.

Paint was applied thinly in opaque and semi-transparent
layers, with minimal brushmarking and some slight
impastos in the whites, such as the collars and the sheets
of paper held by the seated cleric and the young boy
drawing, and in the highlights on the sculptor’s tools in
the foreground and the plate and tankard held by the
female servant on the right. Areas of the background and
the pavement in the foreground were possibly executed
over a brown underpaint. Motifs such as the small “terracotta”
bozzetto to the right of the central sculpture group
and the background figure of a man with his back turned
to the viewer, which were added at a late stage, are painted
over the background architecture.

The paint surface has suffered extensive mild abrasion
overall, especially on high points of the fabric weave. The
weave structure of the support has also become more pro-
nounced in the surface of the image as a result of the lining
process. A thin layer of slightly discoloured old varnish
is present. There is a pronounced tendency to flaking
paint and numerous small losses, especially along several
vertical cracks through the paint and ground layers. Scattered
small retouches are mainly concentrated to the figures
of the two visitors at centre left and the architecture
at the upper left. The painting underwent conservation
treatment in 1983, 1984 and 1986.

Provenance: Coll. Holterman-Wahrendorff; KM 1861,
no. 1289; bequeathed by Martin von Wahrendorff in
1863.

Exhibited: Stockholm, 1956, p. 11, no. 6 (as Balthasar
van den Bossche); Stockholm 1991, no. 8; Stockholm
2010, no. 68.

Bibliography: NM Cat. 1867, p. 23 (as Pieter van Bloemen);
Sander IV, no. 89, p. 126 (as anonymous master);
NM Cat. 1885, p. 24 (as Balthasar van den Bossche); Frimmel
1886, p 30; Göthe 1887, p. 23 (as Balthasar van den
Bossche); Göthe 1893, p. 29 (as Balthasar van den Bossche);
Göthe 1900, p. 30 (as Jan Josef Horemans); Bautier 1924, p.
136 (as Balthasar van den Bossche); NM Cat. 1958, p. 96 (as
Jan Josef Horemans); NM Cat. 1990, p. 175.

As in this and the following scene (no. 99) painters’
and sculptors’ studios were often painted as companion
pieces. The scene here shows an open courtyard
where a man, a potential buyer, stands with his back
turned towards the viewer. A sculptor demonstrates
his work, two naked putti entwined. In the background
is a larger sculpture, The Rape of the Sabine.
Another two men are sitting at the feet of the sculpture
and a small boy in the foreground is sketching on
a sketchblock. A woman is entering the scene with a
plate and a tankard of ale in her hand.
This painting has been attributed to different masters,
among them Balthasar van den Bossche, who
painted in a similar style. In his catalogue in 1900,
however, Göthe already proposed an attribution to Jan
Josef Horemans. Frimmel and later Gerson confirm
this attribution.1 Comparison with a dated work
depicting a company of musicians in Edinburgh indicates
that the Nationalmuseum’s work could have
been painted around 1718.2 There too a man is depicted
with his back to the viewer. Many of the details in
the Nationalmuseum’s painting can be found in other
works by Horemans depicting sculptors’ workshops.
One detail that recurs constantly is the small boy
sketching. Similarly, the Rape of the Sabines is found
in a number of compositions.3
GCB

1 See letter from H. Gerson. 9 June 1956.
2 See photo in the Rijksbureau neg. no. B/3781.
3 See a painting of a Sculptor’s studio sold at Sotheby’s, London, 11
December 1974 and 7 March 1980.[End}

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Foto: Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum 2009