Ferdinand Bol was one of Rembrandt’s most accomplished pupils. He painted many fashionable portraits of the leading burghers, whose newfound wealth and prestige led to an insatiable desire for likenesses of themselves. Quirinus Stercke, chief clerk at the Admiralty of Amsterdam, and Helena Eckhout (collection of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art) were married in 1648. Dated 1658, the two paintings commemorate a marriage, rather than celebrate a wedding, as was often the case for double portraits. These two paintings are typical of Bol’s style: three-quarter-length figures, well dressed but not flamboyant, posed in front of a classical column with a landscape in the background. Husband and wife are placed at slight angles toward one another and are seen slightly from below, so that the viewer’s gaze moves effortlessly toward their faces.
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- Titles Quirinus Stercke (Proper)
- Artist Ferdinand Bol, Dutch, Dordrecht 1616 - 1680 Amsterdam
- Medium oil on canvas
- Dimensions 43 × 36 3/16 in. (109.2 × 91.9 cm) frame: 53 3/4 × 47 × 2 1/8 in. (136.5 × 119.4 × 5.4 cm)
- Credit Line Gift of Mr. David R. Silver, 1980.359
- Work Type painting
- Classification Paintings
- Signature Recto, lower left: Bol 1658
- Provenance Presumably by descent through the sitter of the family until known to be in the collection of Johann Christian Bijsterbos (1814-1898), Zwolle, the Netherlands, by 1882 [see note 1]; auctioned at his sale, Bijsterbos and Dijk, Muller, Amsterdam, March 7, 1899, lot 6 [see note 2]; purchased by "van Gelder" [see note 3]. Henry J. Pfungst (1844–1917) [see note 4]; auctioned at Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, June 10, 1899, lot 71 [see note 5]; purchased by dealer Asher Wertheimer, London [see note 6]. Possibly in the collection of Maurice Kann, Paris [see note 7]. With dealer Charles Brunner, Paris, by June 1909 [see note 8]. With dealer Colnaghi, Paris or London [see note 9]; sold to Harold Irving Pratt (1877-1939), New York, by January 1926 [see note 10]; purchased from his estate by dealer Newhouse Galleries, New York [see note 11]; Louis Silver, Great Neck, Long Island, New York; inherited by David R. Silver, Great Neck, New York; gift to the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 1980
1. Bijsterbos was the great-great-great grandson of Quirinus Stercke. He did not marry, and had no children.
2. Estate sale, sold together with its pendant: “Portrait of Helena Eckhout,” now at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, acc. #70.091. The latter was in the collection of T. B. Walker, Minneapolis, by November 1912. It was sold by the Walker Art Center in 1970, when purchased by Cornell.
3. Blankert 1982, #155, see annotated auction catalog at the RKD. This may be the art dealer Michiel van Gelder (1864-1929).
4. The buyer's name is recorded in Christie's records. See object file.
5. Both portraits were again sold together. Moes 1905, p 421 believed 1980.359 to have been sold from the collection of Sir John Fowler in London on June 12, 1899. This information was repeated by Hofstede de Groot (his notecard on 1980.359, RKD). However, his collection was sold on May 6, 1899 and 1980.359 is not listed in the catalog.
6. Sold for £850, 10 shillings, see annotated copy at the Getty Research Institute. Wertheimer also reported to be the buyer in The Manchester Guardian, Jun 12, 1899, p. 6. Confirmed by Christie's records recieved by the BMA through correspondence. See object file.
7. Per Errera 1920, p. 290. Errara's source is listed as "E.P.A.M, p. 7, n. 8" which refers to the 1909 Brunner catalog. The location indication in Errara "Paris, Vente Kann" could not be verified. They were not sold in 1911 with the Maurice Kann coll. They also do not appear to have been part of Rodolphe Kann's collection which was sold to Duveen in 1907 as they cannot be found in the Duveen records (GRI) nor the Kann catalog published by Duveen.
8. Exposition de portraits anciens et modernes, Galerie Charles Brunner, June 4-July 4, 1909. Brunner listed the portraits separately, as #8 and #9.
9. The Witt Library, Courtauld Institute, London holds a photo of our portrait from P & D Colnaghi.
10. In January 1926, nine portraits from his collection were photographed for the files of the Frick Art Reference Library, New York. A “Portrait of a Man” (image 4278), attributed to Bol, is identical with 1980.359.
11. Date unknown. Mr. Pratt died in May 1939. The painting was still in Mrs. Pratt’s possession in 1949 according to a letter by Mrs. Pratt’s secretary to the Walker Art Gallery, dated July 29, 1949. Mrs. Pratt died in 1969.
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