87

Daniel Vosmaer (active mid-seventeenth century)
View of Delft from an imaginary palace. Signed and dated D. Vosmaer 1663. Canvas, 90.5 × 113 cm.

The Netherlands Office for Fine Arts, inv.nr.NK 2927 (on loan to the Prinsenhof Museum, Delft). Seized by the Germans from the Goudstikker gallery (see nr.21).

Daniel Vosmaer and his brother Nicolaes are a fascinating but obscure factor in the story of mid- seventeenth century Delft painting. That they were figures of some importance is illustrated by documents concerning a lost work with a deliriously intriguing story.

On June 12, 1666, Daniel Vosmaer appeared before a Delft notary to make a declaration concerning a large painting containing a landscape and a seascape. (Compare nr. 81.) The composition had been sketched in chalk on the support by the late Carel Fabritius, worked up by Daniel in the land sections and his deceased brother Nicolaes in the ships and sea, and then touched up by Fabritius. When it was finished it hung for several years in the town hall, and was now in the Prinsenhof. Since Fabritius was killed in the 1654 explosion (see nr. 39), the painting must have been finished at least twelve years previously. Daniel Vosmaer, the only surviving collaborator, declared that he had sold his share of the work, being one-third, to an art dealer named Meynardus de Cooge.

On August 31, two other witnesses declared before a different notary that they had heard Vosmaer say that he had only sold one-fourth of the painting to de Cooge. The testimony was deposed at the request of a third party, Abraham de Potter, who claimed that he was the owner of the work. To confuse matters more, in the intervening weeks two Delft artists had testified that in their opinion, Fabritius's share was not worth nearly a third, nor even a fourth. The landscape, they said, which Fabritius hadn't retouched at all, was by far the best part of the painting, and was certainly worth fifty guilders more than the seascape.

Even if one or more of the declarations is what is known in the art of negotiating as a smoke screen, the affair still has the makings of an equation with one unknown too many. Still, it is a great pity we know no more about it. Two interesting things it does teach us are that a single painting could be a joint venture both artistically and financially; and that Daniel Vosmaer collaborated on a major work with the most talented Delft painter of his time, Fabritius. For the painting, see the text.

Brown 1981, pp. 154-156