The Suitor's Visit

Jan Havicksz. Steen (Dutch, 1626–1679)

about 1665

Medium/TechniqueOil on panel

Dimensions41.3 × 35.6 cm (16 1/4 × 14 in.)
Framed: 58.4 × 52.7 cm (23 × 20 3/4 in.)

Credit LinePromised gift of Susan and Matthew Weatherbie, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art

Accession numberL-T 198.4.2022

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

ProvenanceBy 1771, John Blackwood (b. about 1698 - d. 1777), London [see note 1]. John Jeffreys Pratt (b. 1759 - d. 1840), 1st Marquess of Camden, London; June 12, 1841, posthumous Marquess of Camden sale, Christie's, London, lot 51, sold to Charles Bredel (b. about 1793 - d. 1851), London; by descent to his daughters, Eaton Square, London; May 1, 1875, posthumous Bredel and others sale, Christie's, London, lot 126, sold to Charles Bernard Annoot (dealer), London. George Field (b. 1798 - d. 1875), Ashurst Park; to his son, Barclay Field (b. 1835 - d. 1892), Berkeley Square, London; June 10, 1893, George Field collection sale, Christie's, London, lot 34, sold for 690 gns. to Arthur Tooth and Sons, London, on behalf of Sir Samuel Montagu (b. 1832 - d. 1911), later 1st Baron Swaythling, Townhill Park, Southampton [see note 2]; to his grandson, Stuart Albert Samuel Montagu (b. 1898 - d. 1990), 3rd Baron Swaythling; July 12, 1946, Lord Swaythling sale, Christie's, London, lot 34, sold to Duits Ltd. (dealer), London, for John Enrico Fattorini (b. 1878 - d. 1949), Bradford, England; to his daughter, Margaret Naylor (d. 2002), Baildon, England [see note 3]; December 8, 2004, Fattorini collection sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 22. March 2005, sold by Noortman Master Paintings, Maastricht, to Susan and Matthew Weatherbie, Boston.

NOTES:
[1] An engraving of this painting, dated 1771, bears the inscription, "Done from the Original Picture Painted by John Steen, in the Possession of John Blackwood, Esqr. by S. Paul." (S.Paul is thought to be the alias of the artist Samuel De Wilde, b. 1748 - d. 1832). John Blackwood was a London-based art dealer who owned a number of Steen paintings that were put up for auction between the years 1749 and 1778.

[2] Arthur Tooth and Sons Stock Inventories and Accounts, Getty Research Institute, Series I, London branch stock inventories, Box 8, Paintings 1892-1895, p. 50, no. 200.

[3] According to S.J. Gudlaugsson, The Comedians in the Work of Jan Steen and his Contemporaries (1975), p. 23.