Authentic — and Up for Sale
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
When it comes to art, authenticity doesn’t always come easily. The Sotheby’s London sale of Old Masters includes a recently rediscovered portrait by 17th-century Dutch master Frans Hals. The portrait — of a wealthy textile merchant, Willem van Heythuysen — had been in the Rothschild collection for centuries and is estimated to sell for between $6 million and $10 million.
At some point since its creation in 1635, the painting’s surface and heritage were obscured; it was thought to be a later version of a portrait hanging in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.
“Normally, as auctioneers, we leave things the way they are,” the co-chairman of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings department, George Wachter, said. “But in this case, we had to make a difference and clean it. We weren’t so much questioning the authenticity of the painting as we were trying to find out what was beneath the dirt.”
The current owner and consignor, a European whom Mr. Wachter describes as a longtime friend and client, had a hunch at a small Vienna auction that there was more to the painting than met the eye. (And he paid no more than a half a million euros for it just four years ago.) Not only had it been heavily varnished at some point in the early 20th century, but the Austrian auction house billed it mildly as “studio of Frans Hals.”
After the sale, he brought the painting to New York City and left it in the care of Mr. Wachter. For the next three months, the Sotheby’s executive studied the painting. His recommendation was to take it to an expert and museum curator in Amsterdam named Martin Bijl — who has a talent for tough cases in Dutch masters — for a thorough cleaning.
The painting, an oil on wood panel work typical of the 17th century Dutch school, was hidden under several layers of synthetic varnish that had turned gray instead of yellow. Varnishes that were manufactured in the 20th century tend to turn gray over the decades, a transformation that’s even worse than a painting turning yellow, according to Mr. Bijl. “It can make for a nasty, plastic appearance,” he said.
The cleaning confirmed what Mr. Wachter and Mr. Bijl had suspected: That the painting was indeed an original work of Frans Hals. In fact, it was so good that the two men wondered if it predated another version of the van Heythuysen portrait hanging in Brussels. “Taking off the varnish answered most of my questions, but I still had more work to do,” said Mr. Bijl.
One of the tools panel painting experts rely on is the use of dendrochronology, the term scientists use for studying tree rings in determining dates and past events. It’s particularly useful in the art world because it allows experts to pinpoint to the year when the tree used to make the panel was felled. Mr. Bijl knew that if dendrochronological tests indicated that the wood panel of the Hals painting in his office was older than the wood panel in Brussels, he’d have quite a discovery on his hands.
Mr. Bijl had other research tools at his disposal. First was his knowledge of 17th-century European sawmill technology. One of the most significant dates for Dutch carpenters was 1635, when mechanical saws were put into widespread use across much of the region. Mr. Bijl said he studied the marks on the back of the panel and compared them with marks on the one in Brussels. The Hals in his office showed hand-hewn cuts; the Belgian panel had the marks of a mechanical saw.
Another area of expertise that proved advantageous for Mr. Bijl was his knowledge of every standard of measurement in 17th-century Holland and Flanders. “Every city had its own idea of what an inch was. Nothing was standardized,” he said. “The dimensions of the wood panel indicates it came from Haarlem, the city of Frans Hals.”
The combination of findings delighted Mr. Wachter and his friend. “This takes away any question as to what this painting is,” he said. “It puts it on the map. Everyone agrees that this is a masterpiece.”
The composition is remarkable for a Dutch painting of that era for several reasons, according to Mr. Bijl. The convention was that when a prominent merchant like Willem van Heythuysen sat for a portrait, he struck a dignified and serious pose, which is to say that he either sat or stood upright, and wore his best clothes. If the painting was of a couple, then the man would be to the left, the woman to the right. All of these elements showed that the subject was a member of the upper class.
In fact, a formal, full-length portrait of the same subject, van Heythuysen, painted by Hals in 1625, is near life-size and typical of portraiture of that era. It hangs in Munich’s Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen.
The Hals being auctioned July 9 in London shows van Heythuysen a decade later, this time wearing his riding suit, boots with spurs, and flexing a riding crop. He pushes himself back in a chair with an air of self-confidence.
Hals was good at getting his client to pose this way because they were close friends, according to Mr. Bijl. The painting’s dimensions — 18 1/2 by 14 1/2 inches — suggest that it was meant for van Heythuysen’s home and was never meant to be seen by anyone other than his family and friends.
Mr Bijl’s cleaning also revealed pentimenti — areas where Hals painted over original brushstrokes. In all cases the work shows the speed for which the artist was known. “Hals always worked quickly,” said Mr. Bijl. “Every brushstroke is good in length, color, and tone. The painting is amazing.”
It’s clear that Hals allowed an assistant to finish the painting. Mr. Bijl points to the emergence of the dark “underdrawing” of the curtain after the cleaning. Hals started with a wet white panel, made a quick sketch of the figure, and then painted over it. The oil paint melted together with the wet, white paint on the panel. By the time the assistant was filling in the curtain, he was painting wet-on-dry, he said.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the painting is that the bottom of the chair in which van Heythuysen sits comes too low in the composition. Rather than repaint, Hals apparently chose to leave the foot of the chair out of the image entirely.
For most of its life (nearly a century) the painting was a part of the Rothschild Collection. The ornate gold Rothschild frame will be sold with it, although it will be displayed in a simple black frame during the remainder of its stay on York Avenue.
Said Mr. Wachter: “Everyone’s happy now. They all have a Hals.”