(Amsterdam 1642–1719)
Portrait of a seated lady in a garden with a parrot and flowers on a pedestal with a small dog,
indistinctly signed centre left, on the pedestal: J. Wee…,
oil on canvas, 85.5 x 73 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Max Strauss (1869–1925), Vienna;
his estate sale, Glückselig & Wawra, Vienna, 22 March 1926, lot 43;
Collection of Alexander (Sándor) Wolf (1872–1946), Eisenstadt/Vienna;
confiscated in 1938;
restituted to Frieda Löwy-Wolf (1877–1963), Eisenstadt/Haifa, 12 November 1954;
sale, Fischer, Lucerne, ‘Bestände aus dem Privatmuseum Sándor Wolf in Eisenstadt und mehreren bedeutenden Privatsammlungen’, 17–21 June 1958, lot 3045;
Private European collection

Literature:
A. Van Wagenberg ter Hoeven, Jan Weenix. The Paintings. Master of the Dutch hunting still-life, Zwolle 2018, p. 162, no. 66 (as Jan Weenix)

The present portrait shows a woman, elegantly dressed, her right arm rests on a pedestal on which a large terracotta vase richly decorated with festoons and putti is placed; a bright red parrot and a carefully executed still life can also be seen. At the woman’s feet there is a small dog. Details such as the deep blue damask robe and the violet shawl contrast with the woman’s white blouse, which elegantly displays her social status. In the background the brown tones of the sky envelop rich architecture at the foot of a lake in which a swan swims calmly.

Jan Weenix trained in the workshop of his father Jan Baptiste, specialised in portraiture in which elements such as landscape were combined with a detailed botanical description of gardens and flowers, typical of the great Flemish tradition. This kind of portrait, was very much in demand during the 17th century.