Two Women in an Interior with aBasket of LemonsCaspar Netscher(Prague or Heidelberg ca. 1639 – 1684 TheHague)ca. 1664–65
oil on panel
37.6 x 34.4 cm
CN-108© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons
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How to cite
Wieseman, Marjorie E. “Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons” (2017). In The Leiden Collection
Catalogue,2nded.

EditedbyArthurK.

WheelockJr.

Newhttps://theleidencollection.com/artwork/two-women-in-an-interior-with-a-basket-of-lemons/York,

2017–20.

(archivedMay2020).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrativeoccurs.

Caspar Netscher’s elegant depiction of a woman selecting lemons offers a

Comparative Figurestwist on the familiar theme of a woman supervising her maid. The popularityof the subject in Dutch painting was linked to the exhortations of Jacob Catsand others regarding the housewife’s pivotal role in the smooth running ofthe household.[1] One of the primary responsibilities of a seventeenth-century
Dutch housewife, according to Cats, was to ensure that her family wasproperly fed and provided for, whether she dispatched those duties herself ordelegatedthemtoamaidservant.

Domestic

manuals

suchasCats’s Houwelyck (Marriage) emphasized the importance of shopping wisely,obtaining the best quality food for the family without squandering thehousehold purse. Images of women shopping for foodstuffs or interactingwith vendors became increasingly popular from the 1640s onward in thehands of artists such as Quiringh van Brekelenkam (after 1622–ca. 1669),

Fig 1. Jacob Ochtervelt, A
Fishmonger at the Door, 1663, oilon canvas, 55.5 x 44 cm,Mauritshuis, The Hague, inv. 195

Jacob Ochtervelt (1634–82), Pieter de Hooch (1629–84), and others. Some
depict the mistress of the house shopping in the marketplace or negotiatingwith vendors at the door to the family home (fig 1) (see also GM-114); others
emphasize the housewife’s pedagogical and managerial skills, showing her
expertise by inspecting the goods selected by her maid (fig 2). Many ofthese interactions feature fish or soft fruits, perishable foodstuffs that tested awoman’s skill in evaluating freshness and quality.
Most of these depictions are set in the voorhuis (front foyer) or courtyard ofthe home, or include a view to the outside, drawing attention to the role of© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons
Page 3 of 8commerce as a platform for interaction between the private realm and theoutside world. By contrast, Netscher’s Two Women in an Interior with aBasket of Lemons takes place within a cloistered room: although there is adoorway, it offers no visible route to—or interference from—the outside world.
The exchange between the women seems designed not so much to show off
the young woman’s domestic competence as to draw attention to hergraceful gestures and stylish garments. Moreover, while Brekelenkam’s andOchtervelt’s housewives typically have set aside sewing, childcare, or someother worthy domestic chore in order to attend to the maid or vendor,
Netscher’s pretty protagonist shows no evidence of having been so
industriously occupied. Indeed, the only objects on the table beside her are aheavy silver candlestick, a mirror, a pearl necklace, and a crumpled cloth,
while a decorative shelf hanging on the wall behind holds a gilded casket andFig 2. Quiringh van Brekelenkam,
Interior with a Lady Choosing Fish,
1664, oil on panel, 49.8 x 39.4 cm,Manchester Art Gallery,Manchester, inv. 1979.449, ©
Manchester City Galleries

two glass flasks: all objects that can be linked to the vanities of a woman’s
toilette.
In the seventeenth century, lemons and citrons were luxury items, imported
to the Netherlands from the Mediterranean at considerable effort andexpense. Their astringency was used to temper the sweetness of wine, or tobalance the “moist humors” and “cold slime” of oysters. In paintings,
lemons often functioned as symbols of temperance and moderation; or,prompted by the contrast between their external beauty and the tart flesh
within, as warnings against sinful behavior.[2] It is by no means certain that
Netscher invested his painting with such associations. Nevertheless, by
having the woman select lemons—rather than some more essential foodstuff,
or one that might require particularly keen judgment—Netscher underscores
her pampered situation. This is all the more apparent when Two Women inan Interior with a Basket of Lemons is juxtaposed with a slightly earlier andFig 3. Caspar Netscher,
Cherrywoman with a Child, oil on
panel, 34.9 x 29.2 cm, National
Trust, Tyntesfield, North Somerset,
inv. no. 21099, photo credit:
National Trust

far humbler depiction of the same older woman as a fruit vendor (fig 3), thistime selling cherries in an outdoor market to a young girl who receives thebright fruit in her bunched-up apron.[3]- Marjorie E. Wieseman, 2017

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons
Page 4 of 8Endnotes

1. Wayne Frantis, Paragons of Virtue: Women and Domesticity in Seventeenth-Century Dutch
Art (Cambridge, 1993), 100; Simon Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches (New York,1987), 422.
2. On the varied uses and interpretations of lemons, see Julie Berger Hochstrasser, “Feasting
the Eye: Painting and Reality in the Seventeenth-Century ‘Bancketje,’” in Alan Chong, andWouter Kloek, et al., Still-Life Paintings from the Netherlands, 1550–1720 (Exh. cat.
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) (Zwolle, 1995), 75–76; JulieBerger Hochstrasser, Still Life and Trade in the Dutch Golden Age (New Haven and London,2007), 70–74; and Regina Deckers, “Meisterwerke der Natur: Zitrusfrüchte im Stillleben,”in Die Frucht der Verheißung: Zitrusfrüchte in Kunst und Kultur, ed. Yasmin Doosry,
Christiane Lauterbach, and Johannes Pommeranz (Exh. cat. Nuremberg, GermanischenNationalmuseum) (Nuremberg, 2011), 171–99, esp. 181–82. A contemporary source for theuses of citrus fruits is Johannes Commelijn, Nederlantze hesperides, dat is, Oeffening en
gebruik van de limoen- en oranje-boomen; gestellt na den aardt, en climaat der Nederlanden(Amsterdam, 1676), esp. 46–47.
3. Netscher painted another depiction of the same older model offering a basket of fruit to a welldressed woman, who holds out a coin: The Fruit Seller, ca. 1664, oil on panel, 30 x 34 cm,
present location unknown; Marjorie E. Wieseman, Caspar Netscher and Late SeventeenthCentury Dutch Painting (Doornspijk, 2002), 186, no. 30.

Provenance
Joseph-Hyacinthe-François de Paule de Rigaud, Comte de Vaudreuil (1740–1817), Paris (hissale, Paris, 24 November 1784, no. 68 [for 4,600 livres to Jacques Langlier for de Courmont[1]]).

François-Louis-Joseph de Laborde de Méréville (1761–1802), Paris and London. [2]Edward Coxe (d. 1814), London (his sale, London, 23 April 1807, no. 72, as by Ter Borch [for£52.10]).
Mr. Smith (possibly John Smith?)James-Alexandre de Pourtalès, Comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier (1776–1855), London (his sale,London, 20 May 1826, no. 99 [for £142.16 to James Dunford]). [3]Charles Cope, London, by 1842 (his sale, Christie’s, London, 8 June 1872, no. 53 [for© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons
Page 5 of 8£372.15, to Agnew’s Gallery, London; to Heugh]).
John Heugh, London, by 1872 (his sale, London, 11 May 1878, no. 253 [for £210, to Agnew’sGallery, London, for Hodgson]).
R. K. Hodgson, Esq., London, 1878 [Agnew’s Gallery, London; for £650 to Guinness, 1891].
Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh (1847–1927), London, 1891; by inheritance toHonorable Arthur Ernest Guinness (1876–1949), by 1927; by descent to Mrs. ErnestGuinness (Marie Clotilde Russell, d. 1953), Holmbury House, Holmbury St. Mary, Sussex, by1952 (sale, Christie’s, London, 10 July 1953, no. 65 [for £1,650 to Slatter; Dr. Arthur
Kauffmann, London/Dr. Fritz Nathan, Zurich, to Bührle, 1954]).
Collection Emil Bührle (1890–1956), Zurich; by descent to Dr. Dieter Bührle (1921–2012),
Zurich (from about 1956); sold by him to Römer Fine Art, Zurich, 2007.
Galerie Nissl, Eschen, Liechtenstein, 2007].
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2007.

Provenance Notes

1. Presumably Louis-Marie Lebas de Courmont, marquis de Pomponne (1742–94), although thepainting is not mentioned in the sale of his collection held in Paris on 26 May 1795 (Lugt5323). Lebas de Courmont and the collector Jean-Joseph de Laborde (father of FrançoisLouis-Joseph) lived on the same street in Paris (rue d’Arthois) and moved in the same circleof financier-collectors; see Jean-François Delmas, “Le mécénat des financiers au XVIIIesiècle: Étude comparative de cinq collections de peinture,” Histoire, économie et société 14(1995): 51–70 passim (accessed 2 April 2013).
2. But not in the sales of this collection held in Paris in 1783 or London in 1801 (Lugt 3744 and6210, respectively). It is not know precisely when the painting left de Laborde’s collection.
For a short time, de Laborde was the owner of Italian and French paintings from the Orléanscollection. Straitened finances forced him to mortgage the paintings to the English banker andcollector Jeremiah Harman (1764–1844) in 1793. Five years later Harman sold the paintingsfor £43,500 to the dealer Michael Bryan acting on behalf of the “Bridgewater Syndicate”; foran overview of the activities of the Bridgewater Syndicate, see Nicholas Penny, NationalGallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, vol. 2, Venice 1540–1600,London 2008, 466–67. On Laborde’s collection, see Ferdinand Boyer, “Les collections deFrançois de Laborde-Méréville (1761–1802),” Bulletin de la Société de l’histoire de l’artfrançais 1967 (1968): 141–52.
3. An annotation in the copy of the sale catalogue held at Widener Library, Harvard University,indicates “Bot at 94£10 by PC [private contract?] of Mr Smith before the sale HP [HarryPhillips].”© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons
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Exhibition History
London, Royal Academy of Arts, “Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters, Together with
Works of Deceased Masters of the British School,” 1872, no. 190 [lent by Mrs. CharlesCope].
London, Royal Academy of Arts, “Dutch Pictures 1450–1750,” Winter 1952–53, no. 436 [lentby Mrs. Ernest Guinness].
Zurich, Schloss Jegenstorf, “Alte Meister aus der Sammlung E. Bührle, Zurich,” 21 May–31
August 1955, no. 12 [lent by E. Bührle].
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, on loan with the permanent collection, January 2011–January
2015 [lent by the present owner].
Beijing, National Museum of China, “Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The
Leiden Collection,” 17 June–3 September 2017 [lent by the present owner].
Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden
Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection,” 23 September 2017–25 February 2018 [lentby the present owner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 28 March 2018–22 July 2018 [lent by the presentowner].
St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 5 September 2018–13 January 2019 [lent by thepresent owner].

References
Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish andFrench Painters. 9 vols. London, 1829–42, 4: 152, no. 23; 9: 42, no. 19.
Blanc, Charles. Le Trésor de la Curiosité tiré des Catalogues de vente de Tableaux, Dessins,Estampes, Livres, Marbres, Bronzes, Ivoires, Terres Cuites, Vitrauux, Médailles, Armes,Porcelaines, Meubles, Émaux, Lacques et autres Objets d’Art. Avec diverses Notes & Notices
historiques & biographiques. 2 vols. Paris, 1857–58, 2:101.
Royal Academy. Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters, Together with Works ofDeceased Masters of the British School. Exh. cat. London, Royal Academy. London, 1872,
20, no. 190.
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch
Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith. Edited and translated© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons
Page 7 of 8by Edward G. Hawke, 8 vols. London, 1907–28, 5: 178, no. 87. Originally published as
Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen
Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28.
Graves, Algernon. Art Sales from Early in the Eighteenth Century to the Early TwentiethCentury. 3 vols. London, 1918–21, 2:282.
Holmes, Charles. Pictures from the Iveagh Bequest and Collections. London, 1928, xv; no.
LIX.
Royal Academy of Arts. Dutch Pictures 1450–1750. Exh. cat. London, Royal Academy ofArts. London, 1952–53, 83, no. 436.
Schloss Jegenstorf. Alte Meister aus der Sammlung E. Bührle, Zurich. Exh. cat. Zurich,
Schloss Jegenstorf. Zurich, 1955, 7, no. 12.
Wieseman, Marjorie E. Caspar Netscher and Late Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting.
Doornspijk, 2002, 185–86, no. 29.
Bryant, Julius. Kenwood: Paintings in the Iveagh Bequest. New Haven and London, 2003,419.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons.” In Rembrandt
and His Time: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 152–3;
188, no. 66. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat. Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing,
2017.
Long Museum, West Bund. Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age:
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Exh. cat. Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund.
Shanghai, 2017, 166–67.
McCarthy, Alexa. “Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons.” In The Age ofRembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina
Lyubimova, 150–51; 240, no. 42. Translated by Daria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat.
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts; St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage
Museum. Moscow, 2018.

Versions
Versions and Copies

1. After Caspar Netscher, Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons, support anddimensions unknown, whereabouts unknown.

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Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons
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Technical Summary
The support, a single plank of vertically grained, rectangular oak, has bevels on all four sides. A
vertical split has been reinforced with three wood cleats and a mahogany strip.[1] The panel isunthinned and uncradled and has no machine tool marks. There are two paper labels but no wax
collection seals, import stamps or panel maker’s marks along the panel reverse.
A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied followed by paint thinly and smoothly
applied with no use of impasto. No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images and nocompositional changes are noted in the X-radiograph. There is a large area of reserve
surrounding the younger woman’s head.
The painting is unsigned and undated.
The painting underwent minor panel work and restoration along the vertical split in 2006.
It is in fair condition with areas of abrasion along the elderly woman’s drapery, the wicker basket
and the floor, and is in a good state of preservation.[2]Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood and wood strip is based on examination of images byGeorge Bisacca, Paintings Conservation Department, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
2. Entry based on examination report by Jevon Thistlewood, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, andfurther discussions with George Bisacca, Paintings Conservation Department, Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection