RKD STUDIES

Frankfurt-am-Main, baptised 10 October 1622–Amsterdam, buried 3 November 1674 in the Old Lutheran Church
Dutch painter and draughtsman

Johannes Lingelbach [1] was born in Germany, but as a youth he moved with his family to Amsterdam around 1635 and it is there that he is presumed to have trained as an artist. According to the 18th-century biographer Houbraken he travelled to France in 1642 and two years later was in Rome, but he is only mentioned in documents there in 1647, 1648 and 1649. He was strongly influenced by the work of the older Pieter van Laer (1599–1642) and his followers, the Bamboccianti. In 1650 he left Rome and by 1651 he had returned to Amsterdam. His earliest known work is dated 1650, but he seems to have been painting from 1637. It has been suggested that several small-scale scenes of trade may have been painted by him during his Roman sojourn. Subsequent works largely comprise Italian scenes, usually of markets, piazzas and seaports, populated by all manner of exotic individuals. He often painted figures in the landscapes by others including Meindert Hobbema (1638–1709) and Jan Wijnants (1632–84).

LITERATURE
Burger-Wegener 1976; Kren 1982; Laureati 1983a and 1983b; Levine & Mai 1991, pp. 212–34; Laureati 1996; Schatborn 2001, pp. 124–7, 208; Saur, lxxxiv, 2015, pp. 523–4 (T. van der Molen); Van der Veen 2019c; Ecartico, no. 4651: http://www.vondel.humanities.uva.nl/ecartico/persons/4651 (June 18, 2017); RKDartists&, no. 50219: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/50219 (June 18, 2017).

1
Bernard Vaillant after Michael Sweerts published by Bernard Vaillant
Portrait of Johannes Lingelbach (1622-1674)
The Hague, RKD – Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis (Collectie Iconografisch Bureau)

1670; canvas, 69.5 x 87.3 cm
Signed and dated on the circular stone bottom left: I LINGELBACH/ FECIT/ 1670

PROVENANCE
?P. van den Bogaerde sale, Amsterdam, H. de Winter, 16 March ff. 1778 (Lugt 2808), lot 46; ?Anonymous sale, Amsterdam (Van der Schley and Yver), 5 Dec. ff. 1785 (Lugt 3959), lot 52; or ?Moses Vanhausen sale, 1783;¹ ?bt at the Vanhausen sale by Desenfans (according to Denning 1858 and 1859); Bourgeois Bequest, 1811; Britton 1813, p. 3, no. 25 (‘Small Parlour / no. 25, A Moorish Market, several figures: a large statue &c C[anvas] Linglebach’; 3' x 2'6").

REFERENCES
Cat. 1817, p. 5, no. 45 (‘FIRST ROOM – North Side; A Moorish Market, with Figures; Linglebach’); Haydon 1817, p. 374, no. 45;² Cat. 1820, p. 5, no. 45 (Lingelbach); Cat. 1830, p. 6, no. 77; Jameson 1842, ii, p. 454, no. 77;³ Denning 1858, no. 77;⁴ Denning 1859, no. 77;⁵ Sparkes 1876, pp. 92–3, no. 77 (Port of Genoa); Richter & Sparkes 1880, pp. 92–3, no. 77;⁶ Havard & Sparkes 1885, p. 235, no. 77; Richter & Sparkes 1892 and 1905, p. 91, no. 326; Cook 1914, pp. 200–201;⁷ Cook 1926, p. 187; Cat. 1953, p. 27; Białostocki & Kołoszyńska 1974, p. 41, no. 22; Burger-Wegener 1976, pp. 102–3, 213, 270–71, no. 91; Duparc 1980, p. 56, under no. 86; Murray 1980a, p. 79; Murray 1980b, p. 18; Beresford 1998, pp. 152–3; Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, pp. 130–132; RKD, no 284914: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/284914 (June 21, 2017).

EXHIBITIONS
Williamsburg/Fresno/Pittsburgh/Oklahoma City 2008–10, pp. 76–7, no. 24 (I. A. C. Dejardin).

TECHNICAL
Fine plain-weave canvas. Grey ground. Glue-paste lined; the original tacking margins are absent. The lining has been reinforced with a strip lining. The original canvas is approximately 0.6 cm short of the stretcher on all sides and the visible edges of the lining canvas are not in-painted. The paint surface is slightly cupped. There are scattered small areas of damages (now retouched). Previous recorded treatment: 1953, Dr Hell.

RELATED WORKS
1a) Johannes Lingelbach, Oriental Merchants and Rider in Conversation with Western Merchants on the Beach, pencil, pen and light brown ink, brush and grey wash, 152 x 233 mm. Albertina, Vienna, 3553 [2].⁸
1b) Johannes Lingelbach, Harbour with Classical Buildings and a Statue of Neptune, brush, grey wash, 209 x 337 mm. RPK, RM, Amsterdam, RP-T-1879-A-28 [3].⁹
1c) Johannes Lingelbach, Levantine Harbour, signed I. LINGELBACH, brush, grey and black ink, pen and brown ink, traces of graphite, some black chalk, 202 x 330 mm. Teylers Museum, Haarlem, Q* 5 [4].¹⁰
2a) Similar composition without statue of Neptune: Johannes Lingelbach, Harbour on the Mediterranean, signed and dated I Lingelbach / 1670, canvas, 154 x 194 cm. MH, The Hague, 86 [5].¹¹
2b) Similar composition with statue of Neptune: Johannes Lingelbach, Italian Seaport, signed and dated LINGELBACH fecit / 1665, canvas, 90 x 118 cm. Gemäldegalerie, Schloss Pommersfelden, 327.¹²
2c) Similar composition without statue of Neptune: Johannes Lingelbach, Italian Seaport, signed and dated J LINGELBACH / 1669, canvas, 155.6 x 192 cm. Städel Museum, Frankfurt, 1929 [6].¹³
2d) Similar composition with different staffage: Johannes Lingelbach, An Italianate Harbour with an Elegant Couple promenading near a Statue of Neptune, and Workmen unloading the Docks, signed and dated J. LINGELBACH / 1671, canvas, 62.4 x 78.5 cm. Present whereabouts unknown (Christie’s, 2–3 Dec. 2014, lot 142; Christie’s, Amsterdam, 1 Nov. 2011, lot 44) [7].¹⁴
2e) Similar composition with different staffage: Johannes Lingelbach, An Italianate Harbour Scene with a Statue of Neptune, (later?) signed I. LINGELBAC, canvas, 57.5 x 67 cm. Present whereabouts unknown (Van Ham Kunstauktionen, Cologne, 21–23 Nov. 2002, lot 1390) [8].¹⁵
3a) Anthony van Zylvelt (c. 1640–after 1690) after Johannes Lingelbach, Fountain in the Harbour of Genoa, etching, 22.5 x 36.8 cm. Teylers Museum, Haarlem, KG 05302.¹⁶
3b) Cornelis Ploos van Amstel after Johannes Lingelbach, View of a Harbour with Vessels and Figures, after a drawing in bister.¹⁷

DPG326 is an example of a fashion in Dutch art in the mid-17th century for paintings of imaginary and exotic Mediterranean harbour scenes. The chief artists working in this genre were Johannes Lingelbach and Jan Weenix (1641/2–1719). Typically their pictures combine coastal views with antique ruins populated by a panoply of colourful figures, as here.¹⁸

Other harbour scenes by Lingelbach with similar figures include one in the Mauritshuis (Related works, no. 2a) [5], which is also dated 1670. The Classical ruin, columns, and the figure in Moorish dress are somewhat similar, but the architecture is different, and in both cases probably not based on an actual location. The triumphal arch overgrown with vegetation appears in greater detail and turned to the right in a scene painted in 1665 (Related works, no. 2b). Lingelbach liked to include sculptures of mythological figures – here Neptune (see also Related works, no. 2e) [8]; another Neptune, on top of a fountain, appears in a print in his series of seaports (Related works, nos 3a, 3b). There are similarities between DPG326, the Mauritshuis picture, and a painting by Lingelbach dated 1669 (Related works, no. 2c) [6], most notably in the prow of the ship in the centre of the composition. Another picture has the same background (triumphal arch, the statue of Neptune, the prow of a ship, and harbour to the right) but completely different staffage (Related works, no. 2d) [7]. Lingelbach played many variations on the same motifs, as can be seen in three drawings that are all beach scenes like DPG326. A drawing in the Albertina features the same rider seen from the back, the person he is talking to, and the man in Moorish dress, but without the parasol (Related works, no. 1a) [2]. A drawing in the Rijksprentenkabinet includes the column on the left which partly hides the triumphal arch, the man in Moorish dress with the parasol (seen from the front, whereas in DPG326 he seen from the side), and the statue of Neptune, in a different position (Related works, no. 1b) [3]. In a drawing in the Teylers Museum the columns on the left and the figure in Moorish dress reappear, in a different composition (Related works, no. 1c) [4].

It was suggested that this scene could be an allegory of Navigation, as several elements point to shipping: the statue of Neptune, the prow of the ship with the armillary sphere, the lighthouse, and the maritime attributes in the corner below right (globe, grade stick).¹⁹ These are however only allegorical elements and not enough to characterize the picture as such an allegory.²⁰ Moreover there are also allusions to Trade, which in the Netherlands is very near to Navigation.

According to Denning, Desenfans purchased the painting from Moses Vanhausen in 1783, but this is unconfirmed. Its first certain appearance is in the 1813 inventory of Sir Francis Bourgeois’ collection. Many paintings by Lingelbach of harbour scenes are mentioned in 18th- and 19th-century sale records, but none can be certainly linked to DPG326.²¹

DPG326
Johannes Lingelbach
Italian seaport, dated 1670
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery, inv./cat.nr. DPG326

2
Johannes Lingelbach
Oriental Merchants and Rider in Conversation with Western Merchants on the Beach,
Vienna, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, inv./cat.nr. 3553

3
Johannes Lingelbach
Harbour with Classical Buildings and a Statue of Neptune
Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet, inv./cat.nr. RP-T-1879-A-28

4
Johannes Lingelbach
Levantine harbour with lighthouse, c. 1670
Haarlem, Teylers Museum, inv./cat.nr. Q* 5

5
Johannes Lingelbach
Harbor on the Mediterranean, 1670 (dated)
The Hague, Schilderijengalerij Prins Willem V

6
Johannes Lingelbach
Italian seaport, dated 1669
Frankfurt am Main, Städel Museum, inv./cat.nr. 1929

1640s; canvas, 57.8 x 48.5 cm

PROVENANCE
Bourgeois Bequest, 1811; Britton 1813, p. 32, no. 347 (‘Unhung / no. 78, Market, several figures – C[anvas] Linglebach’; 3'1" x 2'9").

REFERENCES
Cat. 1817, p. 12, no. 219 (‘CENTRE ROOM – East Side; A View of a Convent, with Figures, &c.; Slingsland’); Haydon 1817, p. 392, no. 219 (Van Slingeland);²² Cat. 1820, p. 12, no. 219 (Van Slingelandt); Cat. 1830, no. 90 (Van Slingelandt); Jameson 1842, ii, p. 456, no. 90 (without a name of an artist, not Slingelandt);²³ Denning 1858, no. 90; Denning 1859, no. 90 (Unknown; ‘Formerly attributed to John Peter Van Slingelandt’); Sparkes 1876, p. 218, no. 90 (Unknown; Landscape; ‘probably by Lingelbach, or one of his imitators’); Richter & Sparkes 1880, p. 93, no. 90 (Lingelbach; A Blacksmith’s shop at Rome; ‘doubtless an original painting by Lingelbach’); Havard & Sparkes 1885, p. 235, no. 90 (Lingelbach); Richter & Sparkes 1892 and 1905, p. 13, no. 55; Cook 1914, pp. 32–3; Cook 1926, pp. 31–2; Cat. 1953, p. 27 (School of Lingelbach); Murray 1980a, p. 299 (School of Lingelbach); Beresford 1998, pp. 152–3 (Lingelbach); Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, p. 132 (manner of Lingelbach); RKD no. 284916: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/284916 (June 21, 2017).

TECHNICAL NOTES
Plain-weave linen canvas. Glue-paste lined; the original tacking margins are present. The painting has suffered from blistering in the past. The paint is worn and abraded and there are several scratches in the lower edge. The central poplars are overpainted. The paint is obscured by a heavy discoloured varnish, which has been partially removed from the sky. Previous recorded treatment: 1953–55, Dr Hell; 1990, lower edge secured with wax/resin, surface cleaned, N. Ryder.

RELATED WORKS
1) Version of DPG55, Johannes Lingelbach?, The Blacksmith, canvas, 52 x 43 cm. Present whereabouts unknown (Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 28 Nov. 1980, lot 227; photo Witt).²⁴
2) Johannes Lingelbach, Distribution of Food near a Cloister in Rome, signed LINGELBACH, canvas, 81.9 x 72.6 cm. Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Mass., Sarah C. Carver Fund, 1976.155 [9].²⁵

In the foreground is a blacksmith’s shop with the papal coat-of-arms on the corner above the overhang; two men are shoeing a pack-mule. In the background is a view of the church of the Trinità de’ Monti.

Thomas Kren suggested that the picture dated from the 1640s, when Lingelbach was in Rome.²⁶ But while after his return to Amsterdam Lingelbach eventually gave up painting small Italian scenes in favour of fanciful and exotic port scenes (see DPG326), he continued to make use of the architecture he had seen in Rome: the Trinità de’ Monti, for example, appears in a port scene painted in 1665 but on the left side of the picture (see under DPG326, Related works, no. 2b). It also appears in a scene of handing out food to the poor, which includes a colossal Roman statue (Related works, no. 2) [9].

It is not certain, however, that DPG55 is by Lingelbach.²⁷ An identical painting said to have traces of a signature was on the Paris art market in 1980 (Related works, no. 1); it is not clear which is the original, if either of them is. DPG55 is listed as a Lingelbach in Britton’s 1813 inventory of Bourgeois’ collection; Cockburn attributed it to Pieter Cornelisz. van Slingelandt (1640–91) in 1817, in the earliest Dulwich catalogue, a suggestion rejected by Denning in 1858 and 1859. Sparkes in 1876 attributed the picture to Lingelbach again, and he was followed by all subsequent authors.

DPG55
manner of Johannes Lingelbach
Roman blacksmith's shop, 1640-1649
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery, inv./cat.nr. DPG55

9
Johannes Lingelbach
Food distribution at a monastery gate in Rome
Worcester (Massachusetts), Worcester Art Museum (Massachusetts), inv./cat.nr. 1976.155