Lot 3214* - A188 19th Century Paintings - Friday, 29. March 2019, 04.00 PM
ANDREAS SCHELFHOUT
(1787 The Hague 1870)
Winter landscape by night with skaters and a "koek-en-zopie" 1849.
Oil on panel.
Barely legibly signed and dated: A. Schelfhout 49.
31 × 42.5 cm.
Provenance:
Rademakers Collection.
The grandeur of nature always contains a simultaneous element of something ominous and uncanny. A special group of works within the Rademakers Collection is formed by the “Nocturnes”, a term Jef Rademakers adopted from James McNeill Whistler for the night paintings in his collection. A concept usually associated with music, it perfectly expresses Rademakers’ appreciation of the Romantic movement, as he describes, "The night was a foretaste of eternal darkness, eternal loneliness, our inevitable fate...night and death are brothers of one family. It is not without meaning that black is the colour of mourning"(quoted in: exh. cat. A Romantic Journey - Masterpieces from the Rademakers Collection, Het Noordbrabants Museum, s'-Hertogenbosch, 2014, pp. 42-44).
Schelfhout is considered to be one of the most important painters of winter scenes, known as ”Wintertjes”, of his period. Particularly worth noting here is that the present composition is the Dutchman’s only known ice skating scene shown at night.
For Rademakers, the night scenes clearly reflect the contrasts of Romanticism: "They are peaceful and mysterious at the same time. They are in the truest sense of the word eerily beautiful. "(ibid., p. 44)
Rademakers Collection.
The grandeur of nature always contains a simultaneous element of something ominous and uncanny. A special group of works within the Rademakers Collection is formed by the “Nocturnes”, a term Jef Rademakers adopted from James McNeill Whistler for the night paintings in his collection. A concept usually associated with music, it perfectly expresses Rademakers’ appreciation of the Romantic movement, as he describes, "The night was a foretaste of eternal darkness, eternal loneliness, our inevitable fate...night and death are brothers of one family. It is not without meaning that black is the colour of mourning"(quoted in: exh. cat. A Romantic Journey - Masterpieces from the Rademakers Collection, Het Noordbrabants Museum, s'-Hertogenbosch, 2014, pp. 42-44).
Schelfhout is considered to be one of the most important painters of winter scenes, known as ”Wintertjes”, of his period. Particularly worth noting here is that the present composition is the Dutchman’s only known ice skating scene shown at night.
For Rademakers, the night scenes clearly reflect the contrasts of Romanticism: "They are peaceful and mysterious at the same time. They are in the truest sense of the word eerily beautiful. "(ibid., p. 44)
CHF 30 000 / 40 000 | (€ 30 930 / 41 240)
Sold for CHF 90 500 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.