Cornelis Bega

The Mother Seated in an Inn

1660

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Paysanne Donnant a Manger a un Enfant, etching on zinc, 1874, signed in pencil lower right and inscribed lower left “No 1 – 1er etat”, also titled in p...

(After) JAN VAN DER BRUGGEN (Brussels c1649 1690 Paris), A Drunken Night Cap, Wine is a Mocker, mezzotint, c. 1720, with artist's name Mieris lower left in t...

Hans Sebald Beham (1500-1550), Virgin and Child with the Pear, engraving, 1520. Initials monogram and date in the plate. References: Bartsch 18, Pauli, Hollstein 19. First state (of two). In good condition, on old laid paper with thread margins on three sides, trimmed on the platemark bottom right and bottom, and archival mounting. h: 4.5 x w: 3 in / h: 11.4 x w: 7.6 cm A very good impression of this rarity. Hollstein indicates that earlier impressions, such as this one, do not have a scratch above the head of the Virgin. Beham was one of the Northern Renaissance Little Masters, so called because of their eminence in producing small-scale engravings such as the Virgin and Child with a Pear. Beham was born in Nuremberg in 1500, and may have trained under Durer, though his training is no more certain than that of his younger brother Barthel. He made his first engraving in 1518, and later became known for producing woodcuts as well. Beham’s Madonna with the Pear has a similar composition but in reverse to Durer’s engraving...

Georg Pencz (1500-50) engraving, c. 1540, Abraham and Sarah (Sarah Presenting Hagar to Abraham). Reference: Bartsch 1, Landau 1, only state. [title...

Documents indicate that Cornelis Pietersz Bega was born in either 1631 or 1632 in Haarlem. His grandfather was the renowned history painter Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (Dutch, 1562 - 1638), and his extended family included many other more minor painters, sculptors, and craftsmen. In the spring of 1653 he traveled with the portraitist and still life painter Vincent Laurensz van der Vinne (1628–1702) through Germany, visiting Frankfurt am Main, Heidelberg, Strasbourg, and Basel. Although, like Van der Vinne, he may have intended to continue on to Rome, Bega instead returned to Haarlem in June of that year. He joined the Guild of Saint Luke in 1654. Bega died unmarried in 1664 at the young age of 32, likely a victim of the plague that claimed many lives in Haarlem that year. Dutch artist biographer Arnold Houbraken wrote that Bega was the “first and best pupil” of Adriaen van Ostade (Dutch, 1610 - 1685), a painter of low-life genre scenes. Bega similarly specialized in paintings of jovial taverngoers, smokers, quack doctors, alchemists, and musicians, but he also created tender and sympathetic images of peasant families and nursing mothers. Like Ostade, he also produced etchings, and he may have been one of the first Dutch artists to experiment with monotypes. Bega was also a confident draughtsman, and made numerous chalk drawings remarkable for their sculptural quality. Houbraken wrote that Bega and his close friend Leendert van der Cooghen (1632–1681) frequently drew from life together. Early in his career, Bega painted in a loose, rough style similar to Ostade, although his paintings differ from Ostade’s in that they exhibit a greater degree of monumentality and occasionally include classical elements and figures derived from live models. Bega may have been influenced by the classicizing tradition in Haarlem painting, which he would have known both from the extensive art collection he inherited from his grandfather, as well as from contemporary Haarlem painters who had trained there, such as Salomon (1597–1664) and Jan de Bray...

Etching on thin, cream laid paper 4 x 3 5/8 inches (100 x 90 mm), with narrow margins, trimmed inside the platemark. Adhesive residue at the top right and left corners, and archival ...

In a tavern. engraver Jan De Visscher (1933-1692) Paper, engraving, 21x25 cm

Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn, After by Amand Durand, Dutch (1606 - 1669) - Woman Seated Beside a Stove (B197), Year: 1878 (of original 1658), Medium: Heliogravure, Size: 9 x 7.25 in...