Wednesday, 15 March 2017

HDKvE = Youth work by Hendrick Dirk Kruseman van Elten

Koller West, from Switzerland, sells on 29 March 2017 a "Holland, 19th century, dated 1848 and monogrammed HDKvE" still life, estimated at 900 to 1400 Euro.

This is a very atypical and early work by Hendrik Dirk Kruseman van Elten (with such a lengthy monogram, finding the right match isn't too hard).


Hendrik van Elten was born in 1829, making him just 19 when he painted this work. In later life, he painted nearly exclusively landscapes, and I couldn't find any other example of a still life by him. he spent most of his career in the United States. I like his etchings better than his too commercial landscapes, but he clearly possessed sufficient technical skill.

The work for sale is a very good academic work by such a young painter, and it seems a pity that he restricted himself to landscapes afterwards. His works aren't extremely valuable though, so this minor discovery won't cause much of a stir and the estimate is probably about right.

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