Lot 103
Lot 103
Provenant de la collection Alice et Nikolaus Harnoncourt
JOACHIM ANTHONISZ. WTEWAEL (UTRECHT 1566-1638)

Vénus, Cupidon, Bacchus et Cérès

Price Realised EUR 12,600
Estimate
EUR 20,000 - EUR 30,000
Closed: 12 Jun 2025
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JOACHIM ANTHONISZ. WTEWAEL (UTRECHT 1566-1638)

Vénus, Cupidon, Bacchus et Cérès

Price Realised EUR 12,600
Closed: 12 Jun 2025
Price Realised EUR 12,600
Closed: 12 Jun 2025
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Details
JOACHIM ANTHONISZ. WTEWAEL (UTRECHT 1566-1638)
Vénus, Cupidon, Bacchus et Cérès
huile sur cuivre, ovale
13,2 x 10,5 cm (514 x 418 in.)
Provenance
[Probablement] Diderick, Baron van Leyden, Heer van Vlaardingen, Huis met de Hoofden, Amsterdam ; sa vente après décès, Amsterdam, 13 mai 1811 (première journée), (van der Schley et al.), lot 22 (comme 'Bacchus, Venus en Ceres, verzeld van Kupido. Zeer uitvoerig geschilderd. Hoog 4, breed 3,1/2 duinen. Koper, ovaal') ;
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Charles Howard Hodges (1764-1837).
[Probablement] Baron Alfred Liebig (1854-1930), Vienne ; sa vente après décès, Artaria, Vienne, 22 mars 1934 (troisième journée), lot 593.
Vente anonyme, Sotheby's, New York, 3 juin 1988, lot 29.
Chez Robert Noortman, Maastricht, 1995 ;
Acquis auprès de celui-ci par Dr. Anton C.R. Dreesmann (1923-2000) (inv. A-81) ; sa vente après décès, Christie's, Londres, 11 avril 2002, lot 576 ;
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Alice et Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
Literature
[Probablement] 'Der Nachlaß des Barons Alfred Liebig', Internationale Sammler-Zeitung, 15 avril 1934, 26e année, 8, p. 62.
[Probablement] A. W. Lowenthal, Joachim Wtewael and Dutch Mannerism, Doornspijk, 1986, p. 216.
FURTHER DETAILS
JOACHIM ANTHONISZ. WTEWAEL (1566-1638), VENUS, CUPID, BACCHUS AND CERES, OIL ON COPPER, OVAL

Dr. Anne Lowenthal accepted the present work as an autograph painting by Joachim Anthonisz. Wtewael (1566-1638), noting a relationship with a drawing of the same composition in the Kupferstichkabinett of the Staatliche Museen, Berlin, which may be a preparatory work. An additional drawing in the Kupferstichkabinett of the same format and subject relates to the figure of Bacchus.

The subject, Sine Cerere et Libero (meaning 'without food and wine, love will grow cold'), was adopted from a quotation from Eunuchus, a Roman comedy by the 2nd century BC Roman playwright Terence (c.195/185 BC-c.159 BC). It implied that love, personified by Venus, could not thrive without feasting, represented by Ceres, goddess of Agriculture, and Bacchus, God of Wine. It was a popular theme in seventeenth-century Northern art as a moralising tale against the dangers of overindulgence.
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Bérénice VerdierAssociate Specialist
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