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Two Cows and a Young Bull beside a Fence in a Meadow

Paulus Potter · 1647

Provenance

Ownership history

Probably Dr. Simons, Leiden, by 1763; sold Leyden, Pieter van der Eyk, 29 April 1763, no. 18, “Een Wonder schoon Kunststuk met drie graazende Koeyen in een fraay Landscape uitvoerig en aangenaam geschilderd door den beroemden Paulus Potter 16 x 17 duimen” [according to a note by the Leiden collector Van der Marck in a copy of the Caauw sale catalogue in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; see Bille, vol. 2, p. 112]. Probably Frans van Mieris the Younger, Leiden, by 1764; sold Leiden, Pieter van der Eyk, 7 May, 1764, no. 82, with the same description as in the preceding sale catalogue, but with dimensions given as 16 ½ x 14 ? duimen, for 570 guilders to Caauw [according to an annotated sale catalogue in the R.K.D., The Hague, and the annotated copy of the Caauw sale catalogue cited above]. Probably Pieter Caauw; his sale Leiden, Luchtmans, August 24, 1768, no. 1, “Een leggende en twee staande koeijen”, 16 ? x 14 ½ d., on panel, sold for 670 guilders to Jan Matthias Kok, Amsterdam [annotated sale catalogues in the R.K.D. and the Bibliotheque nationale de France]. Gerret Braamcamp, Amsterdam (died 1771); sold Amsterdam, Van der Schley et al., 31 July, 1771, no. 169, to Yver for 2,070 guilders. Pieter de Smeth van Alphen, Amsterdam (died 1810); offered for sale Amsterdam, Van der Schley et al., 1-2 August 1810, no. 75, bid of 3,600 guilders by de Vries, but bought in [see Priem 1997, p. 136]; offered again in the sale of the collection of Henry Croese, Amsterdam, Van der Schley et al., 18 September, 1811, no. 67 to J. Smit for 2,400 guilders [annotated sale catalogue in the Frick Art Reference Library and Priem 1997]. Anna Maria Hogguer-Ebeling, Amsterdam (died 1812); to her husband, Paul Iwan Hogguer, Amsterdam (died 1816); sold, Amsterdam, Van der Schley et al., 18 August, 1817, no. 67 to Antoine Jolli as agent for William Buchanan for 7,925 guilders [annotated sale catalogue in Ryerson library and Buchanan 1824]; sold by William Buchanan, London, to George Watson Taylor, London and Erlestoke Park, near Devizes, Wiltshire; offered for sale, Christie’s, London, June 13-14, 1823, no. 58 of second day, but repurchased at 1,210 gns.; sold George Robins, Erlestoke Park, Wiltshire, 9 July-1 August 1832, no. 75 to C. J. Niewenhuys [according to Smith 1834]; his sale, Christie’s, London, 10 May 1833, no. 70, to Walmesley for 1,155 gns. [according to Hofstede de Groot 1912; Smith 1834 stated that it was bought in for 1,105 gns]. John Walter, Bearwood, near Wokenham, by 1834 [according to Smith 1834]; by descent to John Walter, until 1942; sold, Sotheby’s, London, 10 June, 1942, no. 49, to Duits for £3,500 [according to Sotheby’s catalogue of the Fattorini sale]. John Enrico Fattorini, Bradford, by 1945 (died 1949) [lent to London 1945]; by descent to his son E.W. Fattorini, Bradford (died 1992); sold by his heirs, Sotheby’s, London, 3 July, 1996, no. 11, to Otto Naumann, Ltd, New York; sold by Otto Naumann, Ltd to the Art Institute, 1997.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

Manchester, Art Treasures of the United Kingdom, 1857, no. 998.
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and by Deceased Masters of the British School, 1882/83, no. 112.
Liverpool, Liverpool School of Art, Exhibition of Works by Dutch Masters of the Seventeenth Century, 22 September - 29 September 1944, no. 13.
London, Arts Council of Great Britain, Dutch Paintings of the 17th Century, 1945, no. 24
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Dutch Pictures 1450-1750, 1952/53, no. 415.
Manchester, City of Manchester Art Gallery, Art Treasures Centenary. European Old Masters, 30 October - 31 December 1957, no. 122.
The Hague, Mauritshuis, The Pleasures of Paulus Potter’s Countryside, 8 November 1994 - 5 February 1995, no. 8A.

Literature

Published references

W. Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting, with a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England since the French Revolution, vol. 2 (London, 1824), pp. 349-56.
John Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, vol. 5 (London, 1834), pp. 131-32, no. 29.
C. J. Nieuwenhuys, A Review of the Lives and Works of Some of the Most Eminent Painters, with Remarks on the Opinions and Statements of Former Writers (London, 1834), pp. 180-181, no. 43.
[G. F.] Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, Being an Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, and Illuminated MSS., etc., vol. 2 (London, 1854), p. 453.
[G. F.] Waagen, Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain, Being an Account of More than Forty Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, MSS., etc. (London, 1857), pp. 293-94.
Charles Blanc, Les trésors de l’art à Manchester (Paris, 1857), pp. 181, 186.
G. F. Waagen, Handbuch der deutschen und niederländischen Malerschulen, 2nd ed. (Stuttgart, 1862), p. 166.
[Théophile Thoré], Trésors d’art en Angleterre (Paris, 1865), pp. 282-83.
T. van Westrheene, Paulus Potter, sa vie et ses oeuvres (The Hague, 1867), pp. 84, 91, 158, no. 40.
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith, vol. 4 (London, 1912), pp. 599-600, no. 24.
Rudolf von Arps-Aubert, Die Entwicklung des reinen Tierbildes in der Kunst des Paulus Potter (Halle, 1932), pp. 15-16, 36, no. 13.
Clara Bille, De Tempel der Kunst, of het Kabinet van den Heer Braamcamp (Amsterdam, 1961), vol. 1, p. 45, no. 169, ill.; vol. 2, p. 40, 112.

Comparables