NARRATOR:
Paintings like this one, by Quiringh Gerritsz Brekelenkam, flourished in 17th-century Holland, where a new emphasis on subjects from everyday life was fast replacing the timeless dramas of Christian art.
A native of the provincial town of Leiden, Brekelenkam was known for his intimate paintings of everyday life. He made this picture of a shoemaker and his wife around 1660. At the center, the cobbler lights his pipe, as his wife kneels to fill a mug from a keg of beer. Their shop is open to the street, and a customer with coins in her hand leans in the window.
Brekelenkam uses this humble setting as a showcase for his skills in painting still life. Notice the tools on the cluttered table … and the wooden shoe lasts beneath it… Or, on the floor, the light glinting off the ceramic jug… and the array of lids and vessels in the lower right corner…
The small scale and intimate subject of this scene suggests that it was painted for private enjoyment. Seventeenth-century Holland had the highest standard of living in Europe, and just about everyone owned paintings celebrating their prosperous society. In 1640, an English traveler wrote home from Amsterdam:
ACTOR:
“Butchers and bakers, yea, many times, blacksmiths, cobblers, etc. will have some picture or other by their forge and in their stall. Such is the general notion, inclination and delight that this country’s natives have to painting.”
Shoemaker's Shop
c. 1660
Quiringh van Brekelenkam (Dutch, 1620-1668)
Not on View
Born in Leiden, Quiringh van Brekelenkam was known for his genre paintings depicting shoemakers, tailors, and other tradesmen in seventeenth century Holland. In these works, rooms with furnishings and clusters of objects that resemble still lifes are dominated by figures engaged in some form of craft. In his painting of a shoemaker and his wife, the artist uses a palette of delicate gray tones, luminous reds and purples and warm whites and browns. Brekelenkam is also known to have executed a few still-life compositions.
Details
- Artist Name: Quiringh van Brekelenkam (Dutch, 1620-1668)
- Title: Shoemaker's Shop
- Date: c. 1660
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Dimensions: 23-3/8 x 32-1/2 in. (59.4 x 82.6 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1977.28.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
Lord Kinnaird, London (sale, Christies, London, 7 May 1806, lot 35, to);
Woodburn.
Possibly Francis Dukinfield Astley, Dukinfield Lodge, Chester (sale, Winstanley, Liverpool, 2 August 1810, lot 41).
Anonymous, (sale, Squibb, London, 4 March 1811, lot A49).
Possibly Thyssen, Amsterdam, (sale, Christies, London, 21 January 1854, lot 6 to);
Terry.
Rev. R.M.P. Mealey, Belmont, Bath (Christie's, London, 11 June 1870, lot 108, to [?]);
Enthoven.
Adolph B. Goldsmidt, Cavenham Park, (sale, Christies, London, 26 May 1922, lot 37, to);
[Colnaghi and H.M. Clark, stock no. A1094, sold 28 May 1922 to];
Tancred Borenius (1885-1948).
Dr. Hans Wertmuller, (sale, Christie's, London, 26 June 1964, lot 155, gns. 750 to);
Joseph.
Lord Belper et al, anon. part (Christie's London, 2 July 1976, lot 51).
[Julia Krause Gallery, Paris, 1976, sold through];
[Essoldo Fine Arts Ltd., London, 12 December 1977 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
Woodburn.
Possibly Francis Dukinfield Astley, Dukinfield Lodge, Chester (sale, Winstanley, Liverpool, 2 August 1810, lot 41).
Anonymous, (sale, Squibb, London, 4 March 1811, lot A49).
Possibly Thyssen, Amsterdam, (sale, Christies, London, 21 January 1854, lot 6 to);
Terry.
Rev. R.M.P. Mealey, Belmont, Bath (Christie's, London, 11 June 1870, lot 108, to [?]);
Enthoven.
Adolph B. Goldsmidt, Cavenham Park, (sale, Christies, London, 26 May 1922, lot 37, to);
[Colnaghi and H.M. Clark, stock no. A1094, sold 28 May 1922 to];
Tancred Borenius (1885-1948).
Dr. Hans Wertmuller, (sale, Christie's, London, 26 June 1964, lot 155, gns. 750 to);
Joseph.
Lord Belper et al, anon. part (Christie's London, 2 July 1976, lot 51).
[Julia Krause Gallery, Paris, 1976, sold through];
[Essoldo Fine Arts Ltd., London, 12 December 1977 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
[on loan]
- Henry Art Gallery, 1977-12-22 to 1978-10-03
Encountering the Dutch Likeness: Portraiture in 17th Century Holland
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-09-02 to 1996
All Consuming: Art and the Essence of Food
- Norton Simon Museum, 2023-04-14 to 2023-08-14
- Sumowski, Werner, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, pp. 501, 511
- The Connoisseur, p. 305
- Bernt, W., Die Niederlandischen Maler des 17. Jahrhunderts, 1948, p. 138
- Norton Simon Museum, Selected Paintings at the Norton Simon Museum, 1980, p. 52
- Sutton, Peter C. and Jane Iandola Watkins, Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting, 1984, fig. 61 p. XLII
- Sutton, Peter C., A Guide to Dutch Art in America, 1986, p. 218
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 77
- Lasius, Angelika, Wallraf-Richartz Jaarbuch, 1989, no. 53, fig. 4 pp. 149-150, 160
- Lasius, Angelika, Quiringh van Brekelenkam, 1992, pl. 7, no. 42 p. 92
- Stichting Geschiedschrijving Holland, Geschiedenis van Holland (History of Holland), 2002, fig. 93 p. 229
- Hochstrasser, Julie Berger, Still Life and Trade in the Dutch Golden Age, 2007, fig. 28 p.55
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1487 p. 412
- Stone-Ferrier, Linda, The Little Street: The Neighborhood in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art and Culture, 2022, Fig. 70 pp. 103-104, 103 (ill.), 107,109
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