Lot 1081 N α

Alongside several other works by Philips Wouwerman, a painting by this master entitled “La Boutique du Maréchal” was found in the famous collection of the Comtesse de Verrue (1670-1736) until the sale of her estate on 27th March 1737. The work was subsequently lost without trace, and only remained known through a reproductive engraving made by Jean Moyreau in 1736.
A copy after the lost canvas can be viewed in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden (inv. no. 1426; cf. Birgit Schumacher: Philips Wouwerman. The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, vol. 2, Doornspijk 2006, vol. 1, p. 427f, no. C8). The present version of the 18th century is a further copy that appears to show greater knowledge of the original, as it adheres more closely to Moyreau's engraving than the piece in Dresden. As the engraving is a mirrored version of the composition, it is assumed that the painter of this work copied it from Wouwerman's original. Birgit Schumacher noted in correspondence with the work's previous owner “Beautifully painted and with an artistic style of its own, despite all efforts to create a perfect Wouwerman copy.”