Lot 1299 Dα

Both paintings formerly belonged to the collection of Count Ferdinand von Plettenberg (1690-1737), the most important Westfalian collection of paintings of the 18th century. Ferdinand von Plettenberg was a member of a highly influential Westfalian aristocratic family, and was leading minister under the Cologne Elector Clemens August from 1733, prior to moving into the service of Emperor Karl VI, where he died shortly after his appointment as Imperial Ambassador to the Holy See. Ferdinand's uncle, the Prince-Bishop of Münster Friedrich Christian von Plettenberg (1644-1706) had already begun the reconstruction of Nordkirchen castle in the south of Münster in the Baroque fashion, and it was finished by Ferdinand von Plettenberg under the architect Johann Conrad Schlaun. Schlaun also designed the frames for the Count's collection of paintings, and the gilt wood regency style frames of these two paintings were presumably among these.
The Flemish genre painter Gerard Thomas' extensive figural interior scenes were already highly valued during the artist's lifetime. Alongside the depiction of doctors and quacks, he also painted alchemist's laboratories, solicitor's offices and artist's studios. Both of these works show a number of beloved motifs of this artist, such as a doctor inspecting a urine sample, a table covered by an oriental rug, a globe and a group of pots, glass vessels, crucibles and books. Both paintings show the brown-toned background typical of Thomas, as well as his numerous highly varied figures.