Sorgh, Hendrick Martensz Lot n° 19

Hendrick Martensz Sorgh c. 1610 Rotterdam - 1670 Rotterdam A Market in a Harbour Oil on panel. 44 x 62.5 cm. Signed and dated lower left (on the wheelbarrow): HM Sorgh 1655. Provenance Robert Napier (1791-1876), West Shandon, Dunbartonshire; His deceased sale, Christie’s, London, 11 April 1877 (to Colnaghi); With Colnaghi, London. Exhibitions Holländische Malerei aus Berliner Privatbesitz, Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, 1984, no. 65. Literature John Charles Robinson: Catalogue of the Works of Art forming the Collection of Robert Napier of 1821, Shandon 1865, no. 488; Jan Kelch: Holländische Malerei aus Berliner Privatbesitz. Berlin 1984, exhib. cat., pp. 132-3, no. 65, reproduced; Christiane Stukenbrock, in: Ekkehard Mai (ed.): Das Kabinett des Sammlers, Cologne 1993, pp. 236-238, no. 94, reproduced. The depiction of market scenes has a long history in Dutch painting, dating back to the 16th century. In the works of Pieter Aertsen (1508-1575) and his nephew Joachim Beuckelaer (1533-1575), Biblical narratives and moral messages usually served as a pretext for the depiction of lively market scenes and opulent arrays of food and wares. Their works also formed an important contribution to the later development of the still life genre. Hendrick Martensz. Sorgh picked up this same subject in the early 1650s in Rotterdam. He had a biographical connection to the motif since, like his father before him, he was also the owner of a shipping line ferrying goods between Rotterdam and Dordrecht. He was first documented as such in 1638 and appears to have continued this work alongside his artistic career until the end of his life. Sorgh's market still lifes