CAREL DE MOOR The Younger (Leiden 1656

CAREL DE MOOR The Younger
(Leiden 1656 - 1738 Warmond)
An Elegant Company in a Garden Landscape
Indistinctly signed lower right, M… f
On panel - 20 ⅞ x 27 ⅝ ins. (52.9 x 70.4 cm)
Provenance:
Private Collection, The Netherlands
VP4361
An elegant company of diners is seated at a table on a terrace. They are waited upon by
an exotic-looking blackamoor, who ascends a flight of steps to the terrace, bearing a
peacock pie. On the left, a pair of columns indicates the portico of a classical-styled
building, while beyond we catch a glimpse of an Italianate garden, dotted with cypress
trees and antique statuary. On the right, is a stone pedestal supporting a statue of Flora,
up which scrambles a vine that twines itself among the branches overhead. The
viewer’s attention, however, is directed to the little scene unfolding in the foreground. A
young lady, attired in shimmering blue and white satin, with pearls and feathers in her
hair, is seated by a fountain, sculpted in the form of Cupid. Her fancifully clad male
admirer splashes her playfully with drops of water that flow from Cupid’s arrow: she
recoils coquettishly and her brown and white spaniel barks with excitement.
Although Carel de Moor is not well known today, during his lifetime he was considered
one of the greatest Dutch painters. From the beginning of his career he produced genre
and history paintings, but gradually portraiture took over as his principal activity. He
enjoyed a great success as a portraitist and was internationally acclaimed: the Grand
Duke of Tuscany commissioned a self-portrait from him in 1702 for his gallery in
Florence and, in 1714, he received a gold medal from the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles
VI, for his services in this capacity.
As one might expect from an artist who trained with several masters, de Moor was
susceptible to a variety of influences, yet he forged a distinctive style that displays
considerable originality. His frequent use of a small format for his portraits, genre and
history pieces recalls the Leiden fijnschilder tradition, but his touch is looser and more
painterly than is typical of that school. Sometimes, his outdoor scenes have an affinity
with the work of Jan Steen, who returned to Leiden in 1670 and befriended the young
artist, while the influence of his teachers, Abraham van den Tempel and Godfried
Schalcken, can be detected in his portraits.
There was a long-standing tradition in Dutch art of depicting elegant companies dining in
the outdoors. These descend ultimately from sixteenth-century love gardens and
religious scenes such as the Prodigal Son squandering his inheritance. In the first half of
the seventeenth century, the theme was revitalised and popularised in the works of artists,
such as Willem Buytewech, Esaias van de Velde and Dirck Hals. Although certain
motifs that hark back to the earlier pictorial tradition persisted in their paintings, by and
large they set a new tone which was all together more naturalistic, secular and less
overtly moralising. In this painting, Carel de Moor’s treatment of the subject not only
updates the fashions and the styles of architecture in accord with his own times, but
introduces a more refined concept of elegance, reflecting the classicising tendencies
which infused much Dutch art in the later seventeenth century. The fountain of love,
which recalls the earlier love-garden tradition, makes clear that the couple have decidedly
amorous intentions, as unambiguously signalled by the drops of water issuing from
Cupid’s arrow, while the inclusion of the statue of Flora is in line with the prevailing
taste for classical art and themes. The statue is based upon the so-called “Farnese Flora”
(now in the Museo Nazionale, Naples), but the pose is reversed. Since Carel de Moor
had never visited Italy, he most likely borrowed the design from an engraving of the
Roman goddess in Jan de Bisschop’s Icones (Fig. 1.). The latter, which was published in
The Hague in 1668, rapidly became an important source book of classical motifs for
artists. A similar statue in the same pose, for example, appears in the background of
Adriaen van der Werff’s Portrait of a Man in a quilted Gown, of 1683, in the National
Gallery, London (Fig. 2). The present painting probably dates from around this time.
The mise-en-scène and the skilful rendering of textures, particularly the fine fabrics, can
be also closely compared with examples of de Moor’s dated portraits from the 1680s.
Born in Leiden on 25 February 1655, Carel de Moor was the son of Carel de Moor Senior
and Magdalena de Ridder. His father was an art dealer and maker of ebony frames who
came originally from Antwerp. According to Arnold Houbraken, who knew de Moor
personally, he studied first with Gerrit Dou in Leiden and then with the portraitist,
Abraham van den Tempel in Amsterdam. Afterwards, he returned to Leiden and became
a pupil of Frans van Mieris I, before completing his training with Godfried Schalcken in
Dordrecht. In 1683, he became a member of the Leiden Guild of St. Luke and, between
1688 and 1711, served a number of times as headman and deacon of the Guild. In 1688,
he married Hillegonde de Wael, with whom he had three children. After the death of his
first wife, he married for the second time, Johanna Louisa van Molenschot, who died
three years later. Around 1694, de Moor founded the Leidse Tekenacademie (Leiden
Academy of Drawing) together with Willem van Mieris and Jacob van Toorenvliet and,
with the former, was director until 1736. His son, Isaac de Moor also became a painter,
but with considerably less success than his father. There is a self-portrait of the artist in
the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdami.
Fig. 1. Jan de Bisschop,
Icones, vol. 1, The
Hague, 1668, pl. 41, in
which the statue is
reversed.
Fig. 2. Adriaen van der Werff, Portrait
of a Man in a quilted Gown, signed and
dated 1683, on canvas, 47.3 x 38.3 cm,
National Gallery, London, inv. no.
1660.
i
Carel de Moor, Self-portrait, signed, panel, 21.5 x 17 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. A1746.