076/06
23 May 2006
Culture Minister Defers Export of Van Musscher's Most Exceptional Painting, Portrait of an Artist.
Culture Minister, David Lammy, has placed a temporary export bar on the painting Portrait of an Artist by Michiel van Musscher, c. 1665-67. This will provide a last chance to raise the money to keep the painting in the United Kingdom.
The Minister's ruling follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, run by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The Committee recommended that the export decision be deferred on the grounds that the painting is of outstanding aesthetic importance and of outstanding significance for the study of Dutch art and painting techniques.
This picture is exceptional: although an early work it is by far the most accomplished and well-known work by Van Musscher. The influence of his teachers Metsu and Van Ostade is clearly visible in the detailed rendering of the interiors, quiet atmosphere and subtle lighting, which serves both to unify the whole and to pick out elements such as the painter's face and hands. It is a formidable example of mid-seventeenth century Dutch painting.
The decision on the export licence application for painting will be deferred for a period ending on 22 July inclusive. This period may be extended until 22 Nov inclusive if a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer to purchase the painting at the recommended price of £6,600,000 excluding VAT is expressed.
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Anyone interested in making an offer to purchase the painting should contact the owner's agent through:
The Secretary
The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council,
Victoria House,
Southampton Row
London WC1B 4EA
Notes to Editors
1. From April 2005, responsibility for administering the work of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) was passed by DCMS to the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). Media enquiries on the operation and casework arisingrom RCEWA and from the Acceptance in Lieu and Government Indemnity Schemes and the export licence system should go to Sharene Chatfield on 020 7273 1459, email sharene.chatfield@mla.gov.uk
2. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, run by MLA, which advises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria. Where the Committee finds that an object meets one or more of the criteria, it will normally recommend that the decision on the export licence application should be deferred for a specified period. An offer may then be made from within the United Kingdom at or above the fair market price.
3. Pictures of these items can be downloaded free of charge from the MLA site on Pixmedia. Please go to: http://www.pixmedia.co.uk/25/image/3141
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4. The painting is in good condition, measures 47.6 by 36.8 cm, and is oil on panel.
5. Michiel van Musscher (1645-1705) was born in Rotterdam and received diverse artistic training. He studied with history painter Martin Saagmolen (c.1620-1669), and was a pupil of portraitist Abraham van den Tempel (1622/3-1672). Four years later, in 1665, van Musscher received lessons from Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667) in Amsterdam, and spent time in 1667 with Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685), a Harlem artist. In 1668 he lived briefly in his native Rotterdam, but eventually settled in Amsterdam, where he died on 20 June 1705.
6. Van Musscher's early work consists of both portraits and genre paintings, which show the influence of his teachers Metsu and Ostade, as well as Nicholas Maes, Frans van mieris the Elder and Johannes Vermeer. By the 1670s, Van Musscher concentrated almost exclusively on portraits, including an impressive series of self-portraits and portraits of artists. His late works are characterised by cool tonalities with hard and sharp outlines.
7. At the centre of Portrait of an Artist sits a young artist, mixing paints on a palette, with an easel next to him and an array of drawingsof ships on the floor in front of him. The room with its high ceiling, black-and-white tiled floor and open door, provide a depth and volume to the picture. The artist portrayed in the picture is dressed in a fashionable outfit and seems to be relaxed yet intent on his work.
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8. Tradition has it that the young artist in this painting is Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707). The identification was presumably made on the basis of the drawings scattered across the studio floor, which resemble those of the famous maritime painter. The portrait is only first mentioned as representing Van de Velde in a sale catalogue of 1773, however, and the identification has not been universally accepted. In fact, the presumed date of the painting and the trajectory of Van de Velde's career do not exclude the possibility that the identification is correct. Both Van Musscher and Van de Velde were working in Amsterdam in the 1660s. It is not entirely sure when Van de Velde left Holland with the intention of settling in England, but this appears not to have been until the early 1670s, making it entirely possible that Van Musscher could have painted him while still in Amsterdam. On the other hand, the young artist in the studio does not resemble a known portrait of Van de Velde in the early 1670s. The identification of the artist, then, remains an open question.
9. Portrait of an Artist has long been regarded as van Musscher's most important painting. Gustav Waagen, German art historian (1794-1868), noted 'There is something very pleasing in the feeling of this picture, which in transparency, chiaroscuro, and careful completion, in no way falls short of the excellence of Adrian Ostade, Musscher's master'.
10. The painting in an early work, and clearly highlights van Musscher's association with Metsu and Van Ostade through details such as the subtle lighting and quiet atmosphere.
11. The painting has been exhibited at the Royal Academy twice, in 1889 and 1952-3, and was last exhibited in 1982 at the National Maritime Museum, London, for the 'The Art of the Van de Veldes: Paintings and Drawings by the Great Dutch Maritime Artists and their English followers' exhibition.
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