| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog N-147 | |
| Auction House | Bosboom (Frans Johannes) -- from catalog: Frans Johannes Bosboom | | Sale Location | Kunst-Kamer boven het Koornhuis op de Princegragt, Hague, The, Netherlands | | Seller(s) | Aa, Dirk van der
Dall, Egbertus Bernardus ten, Mr.
from catalog: Nagelaten door wylen den Heer D. van der Aa, In leven beroemd Konst- en Rytuig-Schilder, En den Wel-Edele Heer E.B. ten Dall, In leven Procureur voor de respective Hoven van Justitie alhier | | Lugt Number | 7625 | | No. of Painting Lots | 306 | | Notes | Besides paintings, this sale contained 48 lots of plaster casts, molds and models. The title page of the catalogue identifies two sellers, Dirk van der Aa (1731-1809), a well-known coach painter, and Egbertus Bernardus ten Dall (1752-1802), an attorney, both from The Hague. The catalogue does not stipulate which or how many lots belonged to each person, but the plaster casts were certainly the property of Van der Aa (a few are also described as by him), and it appears that the majority of the paintings were also his. Besides those of which he was the author, there were works painted by Johann Heinrich Keller, Van der Aa's former teacher, as well as by Louis Moritz and Johannes Christianus Roedig, his former students. Moreover, there were a large number of pictures by his colleagues in the Hague drawing academy "Pictura," such as J.F. Valois, Heinrich Willem Schweickardt, Simon Besanger, and A.J. Besters, etc. If one can also assume that all of these lots, as well as those knocked down to "van der Aa" (or "Mes," who appears to have had an association with the buyer "van der Aa") were also from Dirk van der Aa's consignment, a total of 85 lots can be attributed to him. The preponderance of these pictures falls between lots 27 and 185, and it is possible that all of the lots within this range were his. It is perhaps also worthy of note that the annotator of the NGW copy of the catalogue has drawn a line between lots 26 and 27, possibly indicating a change of ownership. Furthermore, fully 23 of the first 26 -- i.e., non Van der Aa -- lots were knocked down to the Hague dealer/auctioneer Johannes van Eyk, implying that he may have been buying in for the proprietor. This is supported by the annotations in the NGW copy of the catalogue, which total up the results of the sale page by page and omit all of the 23 lots bought by Van Eyk. However, the same annotator also does not include the amounts paid for lots 28, 34-37, 39-43 and 45-51, most of which were not knocked down to Van Eyk. Assumptions about the significance of these annotations are further undermined by the reappearance of at least ten of the lots knocked down to Van Eyk in an auction held in The Hague on July 5, 1814, of which Van Eyk was the co-auctioneer. These lots include some of those from among lots 1-26 which one might suspect had been bought in, but also others from later parts of the sale which were presumably sold. As a result, one cannot make any firm generalizations about the activities of Van Eyk at this sale or about the ownership of the various lots, except to repeat that at least 85 can probably be associated with Van der Aa, and that the majority of the remainder were probably his as well.
Dirk van der Aa was a native of The Hague and achieved a considerable success there working for the court and several distinguished individuals. His financial success enabled him to live in a comfortable home and to move in the highest circles of society. Van Eijnden and Van der Willigen (Geschiedenis der vaderlandsche schilderkunst, II, 1817, p.213) refer to his collection in the following terms "Hij had zich eene fraaije Kunstverzameling aangeschaft, die hem ter verlustiging verstrekte tot in eenen zeer ver gevorderden leeftijd." He died a bachelor on February 23, 1809, about five months before the present sale.
The second proprietor associated with the sale was Mr. Egbertus Bernardus ten Dall, who worked in The Hague as an attorney at both the Court of Justice of Holland and the High Courts of Generalities. He also served as an agent at the court for the cities of Hulst, Hulsterambacht (province of Zeeland Vlaanderen) and Maastricht. In 1778 he married Alida Visser, but it is not known whether she was still alive when he died in August, 1802. His collection of books, prints and drawings were sold on April 13/21, 1807, by Bernardus Scheurleer.
At least 12 lots are recorded as having been sold for more than fl. 100, but one cannot be certain that some were not bought in. A surprising number of modern works by artists such as Besanger, Moritz and Valois were among those that brought the best prices, but the most expensive lot in the sale was lot one, described as depicting Alexander Prevented by Providence from Killing the Jews by Jacob van der Ulft, which was knocked down to Van Eyk for fl. 276. A pair of small interiors with smoking and drinking peasants by Adriaen van Ostade cost fl. 170 and 156, respectively. The best price for a modern work was fl. 195 paid for a painting of The Entombment by Louis Moritz. Very few of the paintings in the sale have been conclusively identified. Most of the 32 lots sold to "Van der Aa" who is presumed to have been a relative of the artist, reppeared at the end of a sale held in the Hague on Oct. 19, ff. 1815 (N-350). The name of their owner at the later sale is unknown. (B. Fredericksen) | | Catalog Location(s) | RKDH [annotations used in Sales Contents; photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with all buyers and prices. There are also some added lots.
NGW [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with all buyers and prices.
AKW Annot. with all buyers and prices.
FLNY Annot. with all prices.
MWH Not annot.
MR Missing for many years and presumably lost. According to Lugt it is not annot. | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | Digitized Catalog - Frick | | | |
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