Jacobus Vrel (1617-1662)

A woman of indefinable age, seen from behind, leans against a window where a child’s face stealthily appears in the half-darkness. She seems to be trying to communicate with the little girl by placing her hand on the windowpane, as a man of God would do.

An exhibition, scheduled for 2023 in the Hague’s Mauritshuis and Paris’ Fondation Custodia, alongside a book to be published this month, will disclose this story. It had been largely assumed that Vrel was a follower of the famed Delft artist, but new research suggests he was in fact the pioneer of the Dutch Golden Age.

For the first time, a Western and an African auction house are teaming up for a thematic sale. The highlight will be this landscape by South African Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef.

The lively, booming port of Amsterdam is delightfully illustrated here, though the 17th-century artist also pays equal attention to the muted atmosphere of sky and water.