Sotheby’s to sell 17th Century Dutch Masterpiece Hendrick Goltzius’ Jupiter and Antiope is among the highlights of Sotheby’s January 2010 Old Master Week in New York.
News-Antique.com - Dec 10,2009 - Hendrick Goltzius’ Jupiter and Antiope is among the highlights of Sotheby’s January 2010 Old Master Week in New York Monumental canvas was restituted by the Dutch Government to The heirs of the original owner in early 2009 A monumental masterpiece (48 x 70 in. (122 x 178 cm)) by the great 17th century Dutch artist Hendrick Goltzius will be offered early next year in Sotheby’s sale of Important Old Master Paintings in New York on 28 January 2010. Goltzius’ paintings are extremely rare and Jupiter and Antiope is the most important by the artist to appear at auction in more than 25 years (est. $8/12
million, £4.8/7.3 million). Executed in 1612, the painting was formerly in the collection of Abraham Adelsberger (1863-1940), a German Jew who was one of the most successful toy manufacturers of the early 20th century. In the year following Adelsberger’s death, his son-in-law was forced to sell the painting to the Nazi leader Hermann Göring to ensure the safety of his family. The painting was recovered by the Allied forces in 1945 and sent to the Dutch Government. Over the course of the next 64 years, the painting was loaned to three institutions in the Netherlands, including the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem,
where it hung from 1985 until this year. In March 2009, the painting was restituted to the heirs of its original owner, Abraham Adelsberger. Prior to exhibition and sale in New York in January, the painting will be exhibited at Sotheby’s London from 4 –9 December 2009.
George Wachter, Co-Chairman of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Department Worldwide said, “As Goltzius only started painting in 1600 and died seventeen years later, only a limited number of significant oils were executed by this great master and the present work ranks among his greatest. It evokes an enormous reaction due to its size and subject matter, and the impact of its eroticism speaks for itself.”
Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617)
In 1600, when he abandoned printmaking and began painting, Goltzius was the most famous engraver in the Netherlands and perhaps all of Europe. His style had evolved from the extreme contortions of Haarlem Mannerism toward the more classicizing influence of Italy, where he had lived from 1590 to 1591. However, it was painting, not printmaking, that was considered the highest art form, and at the dawn of the new century Goltzius decided to take up the challenge of working in a new medium. In the seventeen years before his death he painted more than 50 pictures and was soon recognized as the premiere painter in Haarlem, surpassing his rival Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem. Paintings by Goltzius can be found in major museum collections including the Rijksmuseum, The Los Angeles County Museum, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, among others. The first major retrospective of the artist’s work was organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art and the Rijksmuseum in 2003.
