Eglon van der Neer

Interior with a Woman Washing her Hands

Eglon van der Neer Interieur met handenwassende vrouw
Eglon van der Neer Interieur met handenwassende vrouw
Eglon van der Neer Interieur met handenwassende vrouw
Eglon van der Neer Interieur met handenwassende vrouw
Eglon van der Neer Interieur met handenwassende vrouw

Eglon van der Neer
Interior with a Woman Washing her Hands

On view in Room 11

A lady is washing her hands with water from a silver water jug. She is in a chic brothel – the women in the background are occupied with a customer. Is the woman washing her hands after a customer leaves, or washing them in innocence, to indicate that the sins of the world are not her responsibility?

Along with Schalcken and Verkolje, Van der Neer represents the last generation of Dutch genre painters. They continued in the manner of the genre paintings of their predecessors, but placed more emphasis on refinement and elegance.

Technical details
Eglon van der Neer Interieur met handenwassende vrouw

Eglon van der Neer
Interior with a Woman Washing her Hands

On view in Room 11

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Details

General information
Artist Eglon van der Neer (Amsterdam c. 1634 - 1703 Düsseldorf)
Title Interior with a Woman Washing her Hands
Object name painting
Inventory number 862
On view in Room 11
Material and technical details
Technique oil
Material panel
Dimensions 49.2 x 39.6 cm
Inscriptions
Signed and dated lower right, on the foot of the column: Eglon. vander. Neer.fe. 1675

Provenance

Seger Tierens, The Hague; sale The Hague, 23 July 1743 (Lugt 582), no. 128 (610 guilders); Hendrik van der Vugt, Amsterdam; sale Amsterdam, 27 April 1745 (Lugt 618), no. 14 (for 501 guilders to De Bos); Johan van der Linden van Slingelandt; sale Dordrecht, 22 August 1785 (Lugt 3936), no. 289 (for 2,400 guilders to Cremer); Thomas Theodore Cremer; sale Rotterdam, 16 April 1816 (Lugt 8862), no. 79 (for 2,500 guilders to Lafontaine); sale Paris, 28 May-2 June 1821 (Lugt 10046), no. 57; William Thomas Beckford, Fonthill Abbey (near Bath); sale London (Phillips), 10 October 1823 (Lugt 10519), no. 280 (430 pounds and 10 shillings); sale London (Phillips), 29 June 1830 (Lugt 12421), no. 76 (225 pounds); Francis Heusch, London, by 1833; possibly Lord Northwick; sale Thirlestane House, Cheltenham (Phillips), 26 July 1859 (Lugt 25025), no. 1717; Alfred de Rothschild, London; Victor de Rothschild, London; sale London (Sotheby’s), 19-22 April 1937, no. 13 (for 800 pounds to art dealers S. and R. Rosenberg, London); Fritz Mannheimer (1890-1939), Amsterdam; sold as part of the Mannheimer Collection to the Dienststelle Mühlmann for Adolf Hitler, Führermuseum, Linz, 1940; Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit (inv. no. NK 3116), 1946; on loan to the Mauritshuis, 1948-1960; transferred, 1960

Second World War

This painting is part of the Netherlands Art Property Collection (‘NK collection’): objects that were stolen, seized or purchased during the Nazi regime. After the Second World War they were placed under the administration of the Dutch State. In recent decades, applications for restitution are taken into consideration again and some objects have been returned to the heirs of their rightful owners.

For more information: visit our page on provenance research