Theramin: add Jan Steen
[[File:The oyster meal, by Jacob Ochtervelt.jpg|thumb|350px|[[Jacob Ochtervelt]], ''The Oyster Meal'', 1664-65]]
'''''The Oyster Meal''''' is a [[genre painting]] by [[Jacob Ochtervelt]] dated to around 1664-65, depicting a man offering a woman a plate of [[oyster]]s. Stolen from a bank vault in the Netherlands in 1945, it was identified as [[Nazi plunder]] while held by the [[City of London Corporation]] in 2017. After being restored to the descendants of its former owners, it was sold by [[Sotheby's]] in 2018 for £1.6m, with the auction catalogue describing it as "one of Ochtervelt's finest surviving works".
==Description==
The oil on canvas painting measures . The subject is usually interpreted as a seduction scene, charged with erotic meaning: a solicitous young man is offering a plate of oysters – an [[aphrodisiac]] and symbol of sexual pleasure – to a smiling young woman. Both are wearing fine clothes. He has elaborate silver embroidery on the cuffs of his coat; she is wearing a light blue silk gown with jacket of scarlet velvet trimmed with white fur. She may be a well-dressed courtesan, with her unmade bed in the shadowed background. Incidental details suggest something is awry. She is distractedly spilling drops from her glass of wine held precariously between her right finger and thumb: the drops are falling towards a spaniel waiting to drink; a bird cage hangs empty, the bird has flown; and a distressed chair in the foreground has a knob missing on one side, with some fraying upholstery coming unstitched. There is a pewter jug on the table. The details allow the painter to show his mastery of the effects of light falling on pewter, glass, fur and textiles.
The subject of an oyster meal was painted by other Dutch artists, including [[Frans van Mieris the Elder]], [[Gabriel Metsu]], and [[Jan Steen]]. Jacob Ochtervelt painted other versions of the same subject, including an example of 1663-35 held by the [[Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum]] in Madrid, and another of 1667 held by the [[Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen]] in Rotterdam.
==Provenence==
The work was owned by [[Charles de Morny, Duke of Morny]] in Paris, and then sold at the [[Hôtel Drouot]] in 1874 for 6,000 Francs. It was owned by [[Henry Louis Bischoffsheim]] in London, and sold after his death to [[Alphons Preyer]], and then to [[Frederik Muller]]. It passed through the hands of the , and [[J. Teixeira de Mattos]], and then the firm of the art dealer Daniël Katz in [[Dieren]].
It was acquired in 1936 by the Dutch paediatrician [[J. H. Smidt van Gelder]], who was the director of the [[children’s hospital]] (Kinderziekenhuis) in [[Arnhem]]. After the Netherlands [[Battle of the Netherlands|was invaded in 1940]] by Nazi Germany, Smidt van Gelder secured his collection of 25 paintings in the vault of the Arnhem branch of the (now part of [[ABN AMRO]]). Smidt van Gelder helped the [[Dutch resistance]]: he escaped imminent arrest and was forced into hiding in 1943, with his house confiscated. Arnhem was forcibly cleared of its population and looted by the occupying German forces in the aftermath of the [[Operation Market Garden]] in September 1944, and the painting was one of 14 of Smidt van Gelder's artworks stolen from the bank vault in January 1945 by looters from [[Gau Düsseldorf|Gaukommando Düsseldorf]] led by [[Helmut Temmler]]. Most of Smidt van Gelder's painting were recovered after the war, but six including ''The Oyster Meal'' were not found.
Later research uncovered most of the post-war history of the painting. After passing through the hands of art dealers in Düsseldorf, including [[Galerie Peiffer]], the painting reappeared at [[Galerie Kurt Meissner]] in Zurich in 1965 without a provenance. It as bought by [[J. William Middendorf II]], and held for a time in Washington DC, and then sold to the art dealer [[Edward Speelman]], who sold it on in 1971 to the property developer and entrepreneur [[Harold Samuel, Baron Samuel of Wych Cross|Harold Samuel]] in 1971. It was transferred to the [[City of London Corporation]] in 1987, as part of the collection of 84 artworks bequeathed to the Corporation by Samuel, with the condition that the whole collection should be retained permanently at the [[Mansion House, London]]. Years later, the artwork was identified as [[looted art]] by the [[Commission for Looted Art in Europe]]. Samuel's heirs waived the condition of the bequest, and the painting was returned to his daughter [[Charlotte Bischoff van Heemskerck]], then aged 96, in 2017 (as Smidt van Gelder himself had died in 1969).
The painting was sold at Sotheby's in London in July 2018 for a [[hammer price]] of £1.6m (increasing to £1.93m with the [[buyer's premium]]). It was the second highest price paid for a work by Ochtervelt, after the $4.42m (£2.68m) paid at Sotheby's in New York in January 2014 for a painting of a child and nurse, now held by the [[National Gallery of Art]] in Washington DC. The proceeds of sale were divided amoung the 20 heirs of Smidt van Gelder.
<gallery>
File:Steen_Oyster-eater.jpg|[[Jan Steen]], ''[[The Oyster Eater]]'', 1658-1660, [[Mauritshuis]]
File:Frans van Mieris (I) 005.jpg|A similar painting, by [[Frans van Mieris the Elder]], ''The Oyster Meal'', 1661, [[Mauritshuis]]
File:Jacob Ochtervelt - Het oestermaal - 1618 (OK) - Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.jpg|Jacob Ochtervelt, ''The Oyster Meal'', 1667, [[Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen]]
File:Jacob ochtervelt-comiendo ostras-thyssen.jpg|Jacob Ochtervelt, ''Oyster Eaters'', c.1665-1669, [[Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum]]
</gallery>
==References==
* [https://ift.tt/38lxO1O Jacob Ochtervelt, ''The Oyster Meal''], Sotheby's, 4 July 2018
* [https://ift.tt/2uYCxcb Dutch Old Master Looted by Nazis Fetches £1.9m at Sotheby’s], thevalue.com, 6 July 2018
* [https://ift.tt/2sTmVS7 Hunting for a lost Dutch masterpiece looted by the Nazis... and finding it 70 years later], The Telegraph, 9 June 2018
* [https://ift.tt/38vk1Wq The remarkable story of a Nazi-looted Dutch Golden Age painting], Apollo magazine, 22 June 2018
* [https://ift.tt/32WxJ3j Dutch masterpiece looted by Nazis returned home], City Matters, 8 November 2017
* [https://ift.tt/32UESkG Painting looted by Nazis and found on Lord Mayor of London’s wall returned to heir], Antiques Trade Gazette, 6 November 2017
* [https://ift.tt/32U1bHd London returns stolen artwork], museumsassociation.org, 8 November 2017
* [https://ift.tt/2ImU6Wv Dutch Old Master looted at Arnhem sells for £1.6m at Sotheby’s auction], Antiques Trade Gazette, 5 July 2018
* [https://ift.tt/2xeSpbf Jacob Ochtervelt, ''The Oyster Meal'', 1667], Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
* [https://ift.tt/2vLcxRI Jacob Ochtervelt, ''Oyster Eaters'', c.1665-1669], Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
* [https://ift.tt/38vk3xw Frans van Mieris the Elder, ''The Oyster Meal'', 1661], Mauritshuis
* [https://ift.tt/32T1ORz Jacob Ochtervelt, ''A Nurse and a Child in an Elegant Foyer'', 1663], National Gallery of Art
[[Category:1665 paintings]]
[[Category:Nazi-looted art]]
'''''The Oyster Meal''''' is a [[genre painting]] by [[Jacob Ochtervelt]] dated to around 1664-65, depicting a man offering a woman a plate of [[oyster]]s. Stolen from a bank vault in the Netherlands in 1945, it was identified as [[Nazi plunder]] while held by the [[City of London Corporation]] in 2017. After being restored to the descendants of its former owners, it was sold by [[Sotheby's]] in 2018 for £1.6m, with the auction catalogue describing it as "one of Ochtervelt's finest surviving works".
==Description==
The oil on canvas painting measures . The subject is usually interpreted as a seduction scene, charged with erotic meaning: a solicitous young man is offering a plate of oysters – an [[aphrodisiac]] and symbol of sexual pleasure – to a smiling young woman. Both are wearing fine clothes. He has elaborate silver embroidery on the cuffs of his coat; she is wearing a light blue silk gown with jacket of scarlet velvet trimmed with white fur. She may be a well-dressed courtesan, with her unmade bed in the shadowed background. Incidental details suggest something is awry. She is distractedly spilling drops from her glass of wine held precariously between her right finger and thumb: the drops are falling towards a spaniel waiting to drink; a bird cage hangs empty, the bird has flown; and a distressed chair in the foreground has a knob missing on one side, with some fraying upholstery coming unstitched. There is a pewter jug on the table. The details allow the painter to show his mastery of the effects of light falling on pewter, glass, fur and textiles.
The subject of an oyster meal was painted by other Dutch artists, including [[Frans van Mieris the Elder]], [[Gabriel Metsu]], and [[Jan Steen]]. Jacob Ochtervelt painted other versions of the same subject, including an example of 1663-35 held by the [[Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum]] in Madrid, and another of 1667 held by the [[Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen]] in Rotterdam.
==Provenence==
The work was owned by [[Charles de Morny, Duke of Morny]] in Paris, and then sold at the [[Hôtel Drouot]] in 1874 for 6,000 Francs. It was owned by [[Henry Louis Bischoffsheim]] in London, and sold after his death to [[Alphons Preyer]], and then to [[Frederik Muller]]. It passed through the hands of the , and [[J. Teixeira de Mattos]], and then the firm of the art dealer Daniël Katz in [[Dieren]].
It was acquired in 1936 by the Dutch paediatrician [[J. H. Smidt van Gelder]], who was the director of the [[children’s hospital]] (Kinderziekenhuis) in [[Arnhem]]. After the Netherlands [[Battle of the Netherlands|was invaded in 1940]] by Nazi Germany, Smidt van Gelder secured his collection of 25 paintings in the vault of the Arnhem branch of the (now part of [[ABN AMRO]]). Smidt van Gelder helped the [[Dutch resistance]]: he escaped imminent arrest and was forced into hiding in 1943, with his house confiscated. Arnhem was forcibly cleared of its population and looted by the occupying German forces in the aftermath of the [[Operation Market Garden]] in September 1944, and the painting was one of 14 of Smidt van Gelder's artworks stolen from the bank vault in January 1945 by looters from [[Gau Düsseldorf|Gaukommando Düsseldorf]] led by [[Helmut Temmler]]. Most of Smidt van Gelder's painting were recovered after the war, but six including ''The Oyster Meal'' were not found.
Later research uncovered most of the post-war history of the painting. After passing through the hands of art dealers in Düsseldorf, including [[Galerie Peiffer]], the painting reappeared at [[Galerie Kurt Meissner]] in Zurich in 1965 without a provenance. It as bought by [[J. William Middendorf II]], and held for a time in Washington DC, and then sold to the art dealer [[Edward Speelman]], who sold it on in 1971 to the property developer and entrepreneur [[Harold Samuel, Baron Samuel of Wych Cross|Harold Samuel]] in 1971. It was transferred to the [[City of London Corporation]] in 1987, as part of the collection of 84 artworks bequeathed to the Corporation by Samuel, with the condition that the whole collection should be retained permanently at the [[Mansion House, London]]. Years later, the artwork was identified as [[looted art]] by the [[Commission for Looted Art in Europe]]. Samuel's heirs waived the condition of the bequest, and the painting was returned to his daughter [[Charlotte Bischoff van Heemskerck]], then aged 96, in 2017 (as Smidt van Gelder himself had died in 1969).
The painting was sold at Sotheby's in London in July 2018 for a [[hammer price]] of £1.6m (increasing to £1.93m with the [[buyer's premium]]). It was the second highest price paid for a work by Ochtervelt, after the $4.42m (£2.68m) paid at Sotheby's in New York in January 2014 for a painting of a child and nurse, now held by the [[National Gallery of Art]] in Washington DC. The proceeds of sale were divided amoung the 20 heirs of Smidt van Gelder.
<gallery>
File:Steen_Oyster-eater.jpg|[[Jan Steen]], ''[[The Oyster Eater]]'', 1658-1660, [[Mauritshuis]]
File:Frans van Mieris (I) 005.jpg|A similar painting, by [[Frans van Mieris the Elder]], ''The Oyster Meal'', 1661, [[Mauritshuis]]
File:Jacob Ochtervelt - Het oestermaal - 1618 (OK) - Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.jpg|Jacob Ochtervelt, ''The Oyster Meal'', 1667, [[Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen]]
File:Jacob ochtervelt-comiendo ostras-thyssen.jpg|Jacob Ochtervelt, ''Oyster Eaters'', c.1665-1669, [[Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum]]
</gallery>
==References==
* [https://ift.tt/38lxO1O Jacob Ochtervelt, ''The Oyster Meal''], Sotheby's, 4 July 2018
* [https://ift.tt/2uYCxcb Dutch Old Master Looted by Nazis Fetches £1.9m at Sotheby’s], thevalue.com, 6 July 2018
* [https://ift.tt/2sTmVS7 Hunting for a lost Dutch masterpiece looted by the Nazis... and finding it 70 years later], The Telegraph, 9 June 2018
* [https://ift.tt/38vk1Wq The remarkable story of a Nazi-looted Dutch Golden Age painting], Apollo magazine, 22 June 2018
* [https://ift.tt/32WxJ3j Dutch masterpiece looted by Nazis returned home], City Matters, 8 November 2017
* [https://ift.tt/32UESkG Painting looted by Nazis and found on Lord Mayor of London’s wall returned to heir], Antiques Trade Gazette, 6 November 2017
* [https://ift.tt/32U1bHd London returns stolen artwork], museumsassociation.org, 8 November 2017
* [https://ift.tt/2ImU6Wv Dutch Old Master looted at Arnhem sells for £1.6m at Sotheby’s auction], Antiques Trade Gazette, 5 July 2018
* [https://ift.tt/2xeSpbf Jacob Ochtervelt, ''The Oyster Meal'', 1667], Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
* [https://ift.tt/2vLcxRI Jacob Ochtervelt, ''Oyster Eaters'', c.1665-1669], Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
* [https://ift.tt/38vk3xw Frans van Mieris the Elder, ''The Oyster Meal'', 1661], Mauritshuis
* [https://ift.tt/32T1ORz Jacob Ochtervelt, ''A Nurse and a Child in an Elegant Foyer'', 1663], National Gallery of Art
[[Category:1665 paintings]]
[[Category:Nazi-looted art]]
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