Interior with a gold weigher

PIETER VAN SLINGELANT

1640-Leiden-1691

Oil on canvas 39,1 x 31,5 cm.
Indistinctly signed l.l.

Provenance
Collection J.J.A. Rodbard, Apeldoorn 1957, (as ‘M. Withoos’)
Auction Amsterdam, Sotheby’s, 18 November 1985, (as ‘Jacob van Spreeuwen’)
Private collection

Arnold Boonen was a pupil of Godfried Schalcken. He painted genre pictures in his style, genre pictures in candle light. However due to much encouragement in portrait painting, he shifted almost entirely to that branch. His style was well adapted to succeed in it. An excellent colorist, a faithfull designer of his model, he was soon distinguished as one of the ablest artist of his day. He painted a number of portraits of the most distinguished people of his time, such as Peter de Grote, the Prince and Princess of Orange and the Duke of Marlborough. He created also large paintings for different company halls in Amsterdam and Dordrecht.

This painting can be compared with the Merchant in his office (before 1729). The gold weigher in 17^th century paintings can have two meanings: on the one hand, it symbolizes the impermanence of life, because the person who weighs will eventually be weighed during the Last Judgement. On the other hand, the weigher can symbolize earthly actions or a worldly attitude.

Share this artwork: