JACOB GERRITSZ. CUYP (Dordrecht 1594 – Dordrecht 1652)
A Four-Year-Old Girl with a Cat and a Fish
Signed in the lower right J G Cuyp f. with the initials in monogram; dated and inscribed in the lower left: Aetatis suae 4 Ao 1647
oil on canvas
42 ½ x 31 ½ inches (108 x 80 cm.)
Sold to the Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky
PROVENANCE
reportedly with Baron Coppens
reportedly with Professor Jansselme, Paris
Lekanne Deprez, Amstelveen, 1963 – 2001
G. Bovenhoff, Amstelveen, 2001 – 2022, from whom acquired by
Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts, New York, 2022
EXHIBITED
The Hague, Expositiehofje Noordeinde, Kunstwerken uit particuliere verzamelingen, October 5, 1965 – January 4, 1966
Haarlem, Frans Halsmuseum, Pride and Joy, Children’s Portraits in the Netherlands 1500 – 1700, October 7 – December 31, 2000, no. 47, and traveling to Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, January 21 – April 22, 2001
Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, (1594 – 1652), June 9 – September 15, 2002, no. 34
LITERATURE
Jan Baptist Bedaux, The reality of symbols, studies in the iconography of Netherlandish art 1400 – 1800, Gary Schwartz ISDU, ‘s Gravenhage, Maarssen, 1990, pp. 141, 145, illustrated (from a private collection)
Cynthia Kortenhorst – Von Bogendorf Ruppath, “Children with a Cat and an Eel” in Judith Leyster, A Dutch Master and Her World, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, 1993, p. 203, fn. 16 (from a private collection)
Paul Huys Janssen, Jan van Bijlert, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1998, p. 143, no. 116, fn. 2.
Jan Baptist Bedaux & Saskia Kuus, “Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, Four-Year-Old Girl with Cat and Fish” in Pride and Joy, Children’s Portraits in the Netherlands 1500 – 1700, Ludion Press, Ghent / Amsterdam, 2000, pp. 194 – 195, no. 47, illustrated (from a private collection)
Lauran Toorians, “Portrait of the Child as Sitter, Children of a Golden Age” in The Low Countries, volume 9, 2001, pp. 184 – 185, illustrated (from a private collection)
Rudi Ekkart, “Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp als portretschilder” in Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp (1594 – 1652), Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht, 2002, p. 37
Yvonne Bleyerveld, “Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, Een vierjarig meisje met kat en vis” in Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp (1594 – 1652), Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht, 2002, pp. 150 – 151, no. 34, illustrated (from a private collection)
Alan Chong, “Catalogue raisonné Paintings” in Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp (1594 – 1652), Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht, 2002, p. 182, no. 87, (from a private collection, The Netherlands)
Kathligne Van der Stighelen, “Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, Portrait eines Mädchens mit einer Brezel und einem Hund an der Leine” in Kleine Prinzen, Kinderbildnisse vom 16. bis 19. Jahrhundert aus der Fundación Yannick y Ben Jakober, Kunst – und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, 2003, p. 40, illustrated, (from a private collection)
Jeroen J. H. Dekker, “Beauty and Simplicity: The Power of Fine Art in Moral Teaching on Education in Seventeenth - Century Holland” in Journal of Family History, volume 34, issue 2, 2009
Alan Chong, “Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp: Problems of Collaboration” in The Rijksmuseum Bulletin, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, volume 58, no. 2, 2010, pp. 167, 170, fn. 22 (as not by Jacob Cuyp)
Justa Vuister, De Kat en Het Genrestuk, Een Onderzoek Naar de Rollen van de Kat in de Nederlandse Zeventiende – Eeuwse Genreschilderkunst en hun Mogelijke Verborgen Betekenissen, Master thesis, Utrecht University, 2012, p. 15, fn. 54, pp. 27, 38, no. 9, illustrated (from a private collection)
Jan Baptist Bedaux, “A Briddle for Lust: Representations of Sexual Morality in Dutch Children’s Portraits of the Seventeenth Century” in From Sappho to De Sade, Moments in the History of Sexuality, Routledge, 2014 pp. 66 – 67, plate 13, illustrated (from a private collection)
“Jacob (Gerritsz.) Cuyp was the most important portraitist in Dordrecht during the first half of the seventeenth century”.[1] Among his best works were his portraits of children, particularly those of his late period which incorporated his most original compositions.[2] In our painting from 1647, a smiling four-year-old girl stands on a checkerboard stone floor in a curtained portico. In her right hand she brandishes a fish while in her left she holds the paw of an incensed cat (a masterpiece in its own right). A courting couple is seated in the garden beyond with a castle visible in the distance. The unique iconography of this portrait makes it unforgettable. “The theme of excess – whether mischief or lust, gambling, drinking or smoking – is undoubtably a primary theme of seventeenth-century Dutch art” and what was thought to be true for adults was also applicable to children.[3] In this portrait we are dealing with the need to reign in lust, an admonition usually found in portraits of boys often symbolized by an accompanying goat. It was believed that girls were born with an innate sense of shame and generally required less discipline than boys but were still capable of succumbing to passion. In Cuyp’s depiction the suppression of carnal desires is represented by the enraged cat, the traditional symbol of lust, being tempted yet restrained from the object of its desire – the fish. The courting couple of the background serves to underline the message. The distant castle can be linked to the idea of the palais d’amour which featured in late-medieval imagery from the Garden of Love a theme which had remained popular well into the seventeenth century.[4]
Dressed fashionably, the little girl wears an olive-green gown with a raised skirt that reveals a white underskirt. The simple white linen apron is trimmed with picots. The visible folds in the apron mark it as freshly laundered and as having been just removed from a cupboard, signifying a well-run household. The high polish on the shoes follows the same idea. A neerstik covers the décolleté. A linen kerchief folded in two unequal parts covers her shoulders. Her linen cuffs are also edged with picots as is the neerstik and kerchief. She wears both a linen under cap and lace trimmed outer cap.[5] Double strands of coral adorn each wrist. Coral was believed to ward off disease and evil spirits, and just as coral once removed from reefs could be transformed into precious stones hopefully so would the child.[6]
Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp was the son of the glass painter Gerrit Gerritsz. Cuyp, who is believed to have been his teacher, and his first wife Geerten Mathysdr. He was the stepbrother of Benjamin Cuyp, and the father of Aelbert Cuyp. According to Arnold Houbraken author of De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, he apprenticed with Abraham Bloemaert from circa 1615 – 1618. In 1617 he became a member of the guild of St. Luke, and married Aertken van Cooten in 1618. Although most famous for his portraiture particularly of children, his oeuvre also included religious works, allegories, genre, still lifes and animal subjects.[7]
Although Cuyp’s work originally displayed the influence of the Utrecht Mannerists and Caravaggisti, by 1630 his figural works had come under the influence of Pieter Lastman and Claes Moyaert. In 1642, he along with Isaak van Hasselt, Cornelis Tegelberg and Jacques de Claeuw formed the Konstgenootschap St. Lucas separating from the guild of St. Luke. Cuyp was their treasurer in 1629, 1633, 1637 and 1641. He taught his stepbrother Benjamin as well as his son Aelbert. Known collaborations with Aelbert include three group portraits from the 1640s and several landscapes with shepherds. In these works, Jacob painted the figures and Aelbert the landscapes. Further pupils included Paulus Lesire and Ferdinand Bol. His influence extended to other painters working in Dordrecht such as Jan Olis and Peter Verelst, and it is believed that a number of young painters such as Nicolaes Maes and Ferdinand Bol moved to Amsterdam to join Rembrandt’s studio on Cuyp’s recommendation.[8]
Jacob Cuyp’s works can be found in museums across the globe. He was celebrated in his first retrospective held at the Dordrechts Museum in 2002. A Four-Year-Old Girl with Cat and a Fish was exhibited at this show as well as in the landmark exhibition of 2000 – 2001 Pride and Joy, Children’s Portraits in the Netherlands 1500 – 1700 held at the Franshals Museum. This painting’s outstanding quality, uniqueness of subject and utter charm, combine to make its image indelible and the chance to acquire it a rare opportunity.
Upon firsthand inspection after the painting’s recent cleaning Rudi Ekkart, in a written communication dated September 1, 2022, reconfirmed this painting to be by Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp.
[1] “Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp (1594 – 1652) de vader van de zoon, press release by the Dordrechts Museum” on
Codart, 2002.
[2] Rudi Ekkart, “Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp als portretschilder” in Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, op.cit., p. 37.
[3] Cynthia Kortenhorst-Von Bogendorf Rupprath, op.cit., p. 202.
[4] Jan Baptist Bedaux, Pride and Joy, op.cit., p. 194.
[5] Saskia Kuus, Pride and Joy, op.cit., p. 194.
[6] Katlijne Van der Stighelen, “Peter Paul Rubens, Child with Bird” in Pride and Joy, op.cit., p. 124.
[7] Biographical information taken from Alan Chong, “Jacob (Gerritsz.) Cuyp” in From Rembrandt to Vermeer; 17th - century Dutch Artists, The Grove Dictionary of Art, 2000, p. 79; Codart 2002, op.cit.; and “Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp” on rkd.nl (RKD Explore) website.
[8] Alan Chong, From Rembrandt to Vermeer, op.cit.; and “Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp” on rkd.nl (RKD Explore) op.cit.