Two Women in an Interior with a Basket ofLemonsCaspar Netscher(Prague or Heidelberg ca. 1639 – 1684 TheHague)ca. 1664–65
oil on panel
37.6 x 34.4 cm
CN-108© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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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,
3rded.

EditedbyArthur

K.

Wheelock

Jr.

and

Lara

Yeager-Crasselt.

NewYork,

2020–23.

https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/ (archived December 2023).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed by apermanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

Caspar Netscher’s elegant depiction of a woman selecting lemons offers a twist on theComparative Figures

familiar theme of a woman supervising her maid. The popularity of the subject inDutch painting was linked to the exhortations of Jacob Cats and others regarding thehousewife’s pivotal role in the smooth running of the household.[1] One of the primary
responsibilities of a seventeenth-century Dutch housewife, according to Cats, was toensure that her family was properly fed and provided for, whether she dispatchedthose duties herself or delegated them to a maidservant. Domestic manuals such as
Cats’s Houwelyck (Marriage) emphasized the importance of shopping wisely,
obtaining the best quality food for the family without squandering the household
purse. Images of women shopping for foodstuffs or interacting with vendors became
increasingly popular from the 1640s onward in the hands of artists such as Quiringh
van Brekelenkam (after 1622–ca. 1669), Jacob Ochtervelt (1634–82), Pieter deHooch (1629–84), and others. Some depict the mistress of the house shopping in themarketplace or negotiating with vendors at the door to the family home (fig 1) (seeFig 1. Jacob Ochtervelt, A Fishmonger
at the Door, 1663, oil on canvas, 55.5
x 44 cm, Mauritshuis, The Hague, inv.
195

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 of thehome, or include a view to the outside, drawing attention to the role of commerce as aplatform for interaction between the private realm and the outside world. By contrast,
Netscher’s Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons takes place within acloistered room: although there is a doorway, it offers no visible route to—orinterference from—the outside world. The exchange between the women seems

Fig 2. Quiringh van Brekelenkam,© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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designed not so much to show off the young woman’s domestic competence as todraw attention to her graceful gestures and stylish garments. Moreover, while
Brekelenkam’s and Ochtervelt’s housewives typically have set aside sewing, childcare,Interior with a Lady Choosing Fish,
1664, oil on panel, 49.8 x 39.4 cm,Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester,inv. 1979.449, © Manchester CityGalleries

or some other 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 a heavy silver
candlestick, a mirror, a pearl necklace, and a crumpled cloth, while a decorative shelfhanging on the wall behind holds a gilded casket and two glass flasks: all objects thatcan be linked to the vanities of a woman’s toilette.
In the seventeenth century, lemons and citrons were luxury items, imported to theNetherlands from the Mediterranean at considerable effort and expense. Their
astringency was used to temper the sweetness of wine, or to balance the “moisthumors” and “cold slime” of oysters. In paintings, lemons often functioned as symbols
of temperance and moderation; or, prompted by the contrast between their externalbeauty and the tart flesh within, as warnings against sinful behavior.[2] It is by nomeans certain that Netscher invested his painting with such associations.
Nevertheless, by having the woman select lemons—rather than some more essential

Fig 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 Trustfoodstuff, or one that might require particularly keen judgment—Netscher
underscores her pampered situation. This is all the more apparent when Two Womenin an Interior with a Basket of Lemons is juxtaposed with a slightly earlier and far
humbler depiction of the same older woman as a fruit vendor (fig 3), this time sellingcherries in an outdoor market to a young girl who receives the bright fruit in her
bunched-up apron.[3]- Marjorie E. Wieseman, 2017

© 2024 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, and Wouter Kloek, et al.,Still-Life Paintings from the Netherlands, 1550–1720 (Exh. cat. Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art;
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) (Zwolle, 1995), 75–76; Julie Berger Hochstrasser, Still Life and Trade in theDutch Golden Age (New Haven and London, 2007), 70–74; and Regina Deckers, “Meisterwerke derNatur: Zitrusfrüchte im Stillleben,” in Die Frucht der Verheißung: Zitrusfrüchte in Kunst und Kultur,ed. Yasmin Doosry, Christiane Lauterbach, and Johannes Pommeranz (Exh. cat. Nuremberg,Germanischen Nationalmuseum) (Nuremberg, 2011), 171–99, esp. 181–82. A contemporary source forthe uses of citrus fruits is Johannes Commelijn, Nederlantze hesperides, dat is, Oeffening en gebruik vande 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 well-dressed
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 Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting(Doornspijk, 2002), 186, no. 30.

Provenance
Joseph-Hyacinthe-François de Paule de Rigaud, Comte de Vaudreuil (1740–1817), Paris (his sale, 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, 20May 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 £372.15, toAgnew’s Gallery, London; to Heugh]).
John Heugh, London, by 1872 (his sale, London, 11 May 1878, no. 253 [for £210, to Agnew’s Gallery,London, for Hodgson]).
© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons
Page 5 of 8R. 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 to Honorable
Arthur Ernest Guinness (1876–1949), by 1927; by descent to Mrs. Ernest Guinness (Marie ClotildeRussell, d. 1953), Holmbury House, Holmbury St. Mary, Sussex, by 1952 (sale, Christie’s, London, 10July 1953, no. 65 [for £1,650 to Slatter; Dr. Arthur Kauffmann, London/Dr. Fritz Nathan, Zurich, toBührle, 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 the painting is
not mentioned in the sale of his collection held in Paris on 26 May 1795 (Lugt 5323). Lebas deCourmont and the collector Jean-Joseph de Laborde (father of François-Louis-Joseph) lived on the same
street in Paris (rue d’Arthois) and moved in the same circle of financier-collectors; see Jean-FrançoisDelmas, “Le mécénat des financiers au XVIIIe siècle: Étude comparative de cinq collections depeinture,” 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 and 6210,respectively). It is not know precisely when the painting left de Laborde’s collection. For a short time, deLaborde was the owner of Italian and French paintings from the Orléans collection. Straitened finances
forced him to mortgage the paintings to the English banker and collector Jeremiah Harman (1764–1844)
in 1793. Five years later Harman sold the paintings for £43,500 to the dealer Michael Bryan acting on
behalf of the “Bridgewater Syndicate”; for an overview of the activities of the Bridgewater Syndicate,see Nicholas Penny, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, vol. 2, Venice1540–1600, 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’art français
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 [Harry Phillips].”Exhibition History
London, Royal Academy of Arts, “Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters, Together with Works ofDeceased Masters of the British School,” 1872, no. 190 [lent by Mrs. Charles Cope].
London, Royal Academy of Arts, “Dutch Pictures 1450–1750,” Winter 1952–53, no. 436 [lent by Mrs.
© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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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 [lentby the present owner].
Beijing, National Museum of China, “Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The LeidenCollection,” 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 [lent by the presentowner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpiecesof The Leiden Collection,” 28 March 2018–22 July 2018 [lent by the present owner].
St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces ofThe Leiden Collection,” 5 September 2018–13 January 2019 [lent by the present owner].

References
Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French
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 of Deceased Mastersof 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 by Edward G. Hawke, 8vols. 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 andParis, 1907–28.
Graves, Algernon. Art Sales from Early in the Eighteenth Century to the Early Twentieth Century. 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 of Arts. London,
1952–53, 83, no. 436.
Schloss Jegenstorf. Alte Meister aus der Sammlung E. Bührle, Zurich. Exh. cat. Zurich, Schloss© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Two Women in an Interior with a Basket of Lemons
Page 7 of 8Jegenstorf. 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 fromThe 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 of Rembrandt andVermeer: 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 and dimensions
unknown, whereabouts unknown.

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 is unthinned and uncradled andhas 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 withno use of impasto. No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images and no compositional changes arenoted 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 thefloor, and is in a good state of preservation.[2]© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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Technical Summary Endnotes

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

© 2024 The Leiden Collection