Elderly Couple in an InteriorFrans van Mieris(Leiden 1635 – 1681 Leiden)

ca. 1650–55
oil on panel
52 x 39.6 cm
FM-100© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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How to cite
Buvelot, Quentin. “Elderly Couple in an Interior” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed. Edited by
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/an-elderly-couple-in-aninterior/ (archived May 2020).
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.

Frans van Mieris the Elder’s fame rests largely on elegant paintings

Comparative Figures

depicting the daily affairs of wealthy citizens (see Woman with a Lapdog,
Accompanied by a Maidservant, FM-105; Woman Reading and a Man
Seated at a Table, FM-107; and Young Woman Feeding a Parrot, FM-112),
but he he began his career by representing the lower classes. This earlywork, datable to 1650–55, shows an elderly couple in a simple interior, theman lighting his pipe with a burning coal, the woman plucking a duck. The
subject of women cleaning and preparing food for the family was oftenfeatured by Dutch artists from this period, particularly those from Leiden, as,for example, in a comparable scene from the mid-1650s by Abraham dePape (before 1621–66) (fig 1).[1] In Van Mieris’s painting, the man turns in
his chair to look at the viewer, as though urging us to acknowledge thewoman’s domestic virtue. She concentrates entirely on her task, andFig 1. Abraham de Pape, Old
Woman Plucking a Rooster, ca.
1650–55, oil on panel, 49 x 41 cm,
The Royal Picture Gallery
Mauritshuis, The Hague, 138

although she has endeavored to save the bird’s feathers in a wicker basket(the apparent cleanliness of the house is another example of her virtues as ahousewife), some have fallen on the wooden floor in front of her.
Van Mieris depicted the elderly man lighting his pipe because this motifenhanced the realistic character of the scene: burning embers only glow inthe bowl of the pipe when a smoker actually inhales. He adapted this motif
from his teacher Gerrit Dou (1613–75), who included it at least twice in hispaintings, once around 1635 when he depicted an elderly man lighting a[2]pipe,and a second time around 1645, when he made an illusionistic

painting in which an artist leans out of a window niche holding a lit pipe in hisFig 2. Frans van Mieris the Elder,
Saying Grace, ca. 1650–55, oil onpanel, 34.3 x 40 cm, National
Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.,© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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hand.[3]Corcoran Collection (William A.
Clark Collection), 2014.136.31

Although Van Mieris was greatly influenced by Dou’s style and subject
matter, he would quickly distinguish himself from his master. Even in his
early paintings one can detect that Van Mieris, in the true spirit of aemulatio,
strove to outdo his master in a number of ways. For example, around 1655
he began to paint with a luminosity unknown to his master, and he combined
this heightened concern for the reflections of sunlight on objects with anincreased precision in handling.[4] Here, he has illuminated the protagonists
with sunlight falling into the room through a leaded-glass window. Van Mieris
silhouetted the figures against a background shrouded in darkness, where
one can barely make out the curtain of a bed and a bed pan. In theforeground he grouped together a number of domestic items—a broom, abucket, and a shoe—to create a repoussoir that helps establish a sense of
spatial recession.
Van Mieris’s early works do not yet reveal the highly sophisticated palette of
his later years, but they are not at all limited in color. In his early paintings hefavored broad areas with strong local colors, among them vivid reds, blues
and yellows. The rustic reds in one of Van Mieris’s signed paintings, APeasant Meal, and the relatively unblended blues and yellows in Saying
Grace (fig 2) are cases in point.[5] The existence of such strong reds
in Elderly Couple in an Interior is one basis for attributing this unsigned work
to the young Van Mieris. Moreover, a number of objects in this painting arefound in Van Mieris’s other early works, including a similarly designedbirdcage placed before the window in A Peasant Meal and an identical chairin Saying Grace.[6] Finally, the shape of the curved wooden beams in room’s
interior are comparable to those in the latter work. It is striking that theiconography of these early works is uniformly positive.
When this painting was in the collection of the Barons Fisher, it was believed
to be by the Leiden painter Abraham de Pape (before 1621–66).[7] Later, in1991, at a public sale in London, the painting was attributed to another
Leiden artist, Dominicus van Tol (ca. 1635–76).[8] The correct attribution toVan Mieris was made by Otto Naumann.[9]- Quentin Buvelot, 2017

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Elderly Couple in an Interior
Page 4 of 7Endnotes

1. Eric Jan Sluijter, Marlies Enklaar, and Paul Nieuwenhuizen, eds., et al., Leidse fijnschilders:van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge, 1630–1760 (Exh. cat. Leiden, Stedelijk
Museum De Lakenhal) (Zwolle, 1988), no. 62, ill.; Quentin Buvelot, Royal Picture Gallery
Mauritshuis: A Summary Catalogue, (The Hague, 2004), 230–32, no. 130, ill.
2. Private collection; see Gerrit Dou, 1613–1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, ed.
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. (Exh. cat. Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art; London, Dulwich
Picture Gallery; The Hague, Mauritshuis) (Zwolle., 2000), no. 5.
3. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. SK-A-86; see Gerrit Dou, 1613–1675: Master Painter inthe Age of Rembrandt, ed. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. (Exh. cat. Washington D.C., National
Gallery of Art; London, Dulwich Picture Gallery; The Hague, Mauritshuis) (Zwolle, 2000), no.
16.
4. Otto Naumann in Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague,Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (Zwolle, 2005), 28.
5. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 2:11, no.
6; and 2:7–8, no. 1; Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague,Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (Zwolle, 2005), 76–78, no. 3, and 29,
fig. 1.
6. In the present painting, a vertical shadow to the right of the window shows through thebirdcage, indicating that the cage was added at a later stage by the artist, who apparently
made a number of compositional changes during the paint stage, as was pointed out in areport by Annette Rupprecht, paintings conservator.
7. Castle Museum. Dutch Paintings from East Anglia (Exh. cat. Norwich, Castle Museum)(Norwich, 1966), 14, no. 32.
8. See Provenance.
9. Otto Naumann in Frans van Mieris 1635–1681, ed. Quentin Buvelot, (Exh. cat. The Hague,
Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (Zwolle, 2005), 28, 29, fig. 2, 216 n. 1,238, no. 122.

Provenance
Probably Cecil Vavasseur (1868–1955), 2nd Baron Fisher; by inheritance to John Vavasseur(1921–2012), 3rd Baron Fisher, Kilverston Hall, Thetford, Norfolk [as by Abraham de Pape].
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Elderly Couple in an Interior
Page 5 of 7(Christie’s, London, 13 December 1991, no. 152 [as “Attributed to Dominicus van Tol”]).
[Otto Naumann, Ltd., New York, 1991–92].
Dr. Paul S. Barr, Suffern, New York, 1992.
[Otto Naumann, Ltd., New York, 1992].
Bert van Deun, Oberägeri, Switzerland, 1996 [Otto Naumann, Ltd., New York, 2004].
From whom acquired by the present owner.

Exhibition History
King’s Lynn, Guildhall of Saint George, King’s Lynn Festival, “Loan Exhibition of 17thCentury Dutch Oil Paintings,” 19 July–2 August 1952, no. 20.
Norwich, Castle Museum, “Dutch Paintings from East Anglia,” 20 July–29 August 1966, 14,
no. 32 [as by Abraham de Pape, lent by Lord Fisher].
Leiden, Museum de Lakenhal, “Gerrit Dou: The Leiden Collection From New York,” 9March–31 August 2014 [lent by the present owner].
Beijing, National Museum of China, “Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from TheLeiden 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
Guildhall of St. George. Loan Exhibition of 17th Century Dutch Oil Paintings. Exh. cat. King’sLynn, Guildhall of St. George. King’s Lynn, 1952, no. 20.
Castle Museum. Dutch Paintings from East Anglia. Exh. cat. Norwich, Castle Museum.
Norwich, 1966, 14, no. 32.
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Naumann, Otto. “Frans van Mieris’ Personal Style.” In Frans van Mieris 1635–1681. Edited byQuentin Buvelot, 28, 29, no. 2, 216 n. 1, 238, no. 122. Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis;
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art. Zwolle, 2005.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Elderly Couple in an Interior.” In Rembrandt and His Time:
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 92; 180, no. 36.
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, 158–59.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Elderly Couple in an Interior.” In The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 130–31; 238, no. 32.
Translated by Daria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin State Museumof Fine Arts; St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.

Technical Summary
The support is a single plank of vertically grained, rectangular wedge-shaped oak with diagonallyoriented rays.[1] The panel is unthinned and uncradled, has bevels along all but the thinner verticaledge, and has mechanical toolmarks along the nonbeveled panel interior. On the verso is a gold
wax collection seal, three black stencils, and an illegible pen inscription on a paper tape remnant,but no paper labels, import stamps or panel maker’s mark.
A thinly and evenly applied white ground accentuates the wood grain and spills over onto thepanel edges. The paint covers the ground completely and has been applied smoothly in thinlayers with low brushmarking and transparent glazing light over dark. In raking light the verticalwood grain is pronounced, as are the outer contours and drapery folds of both figures’ clothes,
the chairs they sit on, the wicker basket, and the wooden bucket.
The painting is unsigned and undated.
No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers. Visible
compositional changes include the male figure’s proper right hand and pipe lighter, which wereshifted closer to his torso. The shape of his hat was also altered.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2004 and remains in an excellent state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on visual examination of the X-radiograph andpanel reverse images by Ian Tyers. According to Tyers, the panel has good potential for© 2020 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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dendrochronology.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection