43 - Johannes Natus

Johannes Natus (Dutch, active 1658-1662) A Tavern Scene with Peasants Smoking and Drinking, 1661 oil on oak panel signed Natus. and dated (lower left) 20 1/8 x 19 in. (51.3 x 48.2 cm) Property from the Estate of Ambassador J. William Middendorf II, Rhode Island This lot is located in Philadelphia. Framed: 27 x 26 x 2 1/4 in. Please contact Fineart@freemansauction.com for a detailed condition report. Provenance: Lord Biddulph, London, 1954. Sotheby's, London, sale of May 12, 1954, Lot 51 (as Claes Molenaer). Gebr. Douwes, Amsterdam, acquired from the above sale. F.C. Butôt, Sankt Gilgen, Austria. Sotheby's, London, sale of July 12, 1978, Lot 29. Gregor, acquired from the above sale. Gebr. Douwes, Amsterdam, by 1990. The SØR Rusche Collection, acquired from the above, c. 1996. Sotheby's, London, sale of May 8, 2019, Lot 39. Exhibited: Middelburg, Stadhuis, Het oof van de meester. Nederlandse schilderkunst uit de 17e eeuw, 1968, no. 35. Salzburg, Museumpavilion im Marabellgarten, Niederländische Kunst aus dem Goldenen Jahrhundert, July 12 - September 12, 1972, unnumbered (and traveling to Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Münster, September 26, 1972 - January 14, 1973). Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Hollandse en Vlaamse Kunst uit de 17e eeuw, February 16 - April 1, 1973, unnumbered. Berlin, Kaiser-Friedrich-Museums-Verein, Holländische Malerei aus Berliner Privatbesitz, 1984, no. 44. Rotterdam, Kunsthal, At Home in the Golden Age, February 9 - May 18, 2008, no. 37. Literature: Niederländische Kunst aus dem Goldenen Jahrhundert- Gemälde und Zeichnungen im Umkreis grosser Meister aus der Sammlung F.C. Butôt, exhib. cat., Salzburg, 1972-1973, pp. 94-95, illustrated. Hollandse en Vlaamse kunst uit de 17e eeuw: hoogtepunten van minder bekende meesters: schilderijen en tekeningen uit de varzameling F.C. Butôt, exhib. cat., Rotterdam, 1973, pp. 76-77, illustrated. Walther Bernt, Die Niederländischen Maler und Zeichner des 17. Jahrhunderts, Munich, 1980, vol. II, fig. 886, illustrated. Ronald E. Fleischer, Ludolf de Jongh (1616-1679): Painter of Rotterdam, Doornspijk, 1989, p. 80, fig. 99, illustrated. H.-J. Raupp (ed.), Niederländische Malerei des. 17. Jahrhunderts der SØR Rusche-Sammlung, vol. 5, Stilleben und Tierstücke, Münster/Hamburg/London, 2004, pp. 302-05, no. 71, illustrated. W. Pijbes, M. Aarts, M. J. Bok et al, At Home in the Golden Age, exhib. cat., Zwolle, 2008, p. 56, no. 37, illustrated. Lot Note: Little is known about Johannes Natus or the course of his career. His membership in the Guild of Saint Luke in Middelburg is recorded in 1662, placing him in a city that, after Amsterdam, was Holland’s most important commercial center in the seventeenth century. Natus appears to have specialized in tavern interiors, distinguished by their imposing figures, atmospheric light, and rich, harmonious colors. The scale and treatment of these compositions have prompted the suggestion that he may have spent time in Italy, although no documentary evidence of such a journey is known.