Monday 6 April 2015

Manner of Govaerts or Thomas?


At Bonham's, they sell an "interior scene with figures and a musician" in the "Manner of Hendrik Govaerts", 18h century, estimated at £500 to £700. It is a rather weak painting, clearly a copy, and not worth more than the estimate. UPDATE: sold for £562. It would fetch even less if they gave it the right description, "A Physician checking a urine bottle", not an uncommon subject in the 17th century but now not the most popular thing to hang on your wall.


It looks though as if the attribution should point more to Gerard Thomas, painter of the above picture in the Wellcome Library. This one or one very similar is undoubtedly the origin of the one now for sale.


All of these go back to the most famous of these Urine Doctors, the one by Gerrit Dou. But the painting for sale more closely matches the one by Thomas. I can't find any indication of Govaerts painting anything similar, and the style of the one for sale also doesn't resemble Govaerts that much.

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