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Allegory of Summer

Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchemc. 1680

Mauritshuis

Mauritshuis
Den Haag, Netherlands

This painting is intended to be hung up high; over a door, for example. It was part of a series of four seasons that came from a house on the Herengracht canal in Amsterdam. This one represents summer. Ceres, the Roman goddess of grain that ripens in the summer, is standing in the centre.

Berchem is known mainly as a painter of Italianate landscapes, although he also painted decorative scenes, such as this allegory.

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  • Title: Allegory of Summer
  • Creator: Berchem, Nicolaes Pietersz
  • Date Created: c. 1680
  • Physical Dimensions: h94 cm x w88 cm
  • Provenance: Herman van Swoll, Amsterdam, c.1680-1698 (his sale, Amsterdam, 22 April 1699, lot 20, with three other works from this series for 570 guilders); private collection, Amsterdam (sale 13 July 1718, lot 5, for 505 guilders); sale Amsterdam, Daniel Adrianus Beukelaar, 22 May 1731, lot 1; Morel Collection, Paris (his sale, Paris, Lebrun, 3 May 1786, lot 70, with three other paintings from this series for 7801 livres to Langlier); Jacques Langlier, Paris, (his sale, 15 April 1789, lot 50, unsold); Jacques Langlier, Paris; private collection, Paris, until 1834; M. Holloway, London (his sale, London, 1872, complete series for £170 to Nieuwenhuys); C.J. Nieuwenhuys Gallery, Brussels and London, 1872-1886 (his sale, London, Christie’s, 17 July 186, with one other work from the series for £51 to McLean); McLean collection, London; anonymous sale, London, Christie’s, 22 June 1901, lot 2 or 3; F. Steinmeyer, Lucerne, 1924; N. Katz, Dieren, 1927; A.G. Luzern Gallery, Lucerne, 1934; D. Katz Gallery, Dieren; sale The Hague, Van Marle and Bignell, 3 May 1944, lot 10, for 10.500 guilders to Dik (working in commission of Schmidt); J. Dik Gallery, Amsterdam, 1944; Schmidt, The Hague; H. Posse, 1944; Führermuseum, Linz, Linz number 3479; Central Collecting Point Munich, 8 July 1945-8 July 1946; Salzburg, Austria, 1952; Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit / Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst, The Hague (inv. no. NK 2732); on loan to the Kunsthistorisch Instituut, Utrecht; on loan to the Prince William V Gallery, The Hague, 1981; on long-term loan from the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage, Amsterdam and Rijswijk (inv. no. NK 2732), 1992-2010; transferred by the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage to the Mauritshuis, 2010
  • Type: painting; oil
  • Medium: canvas
Mauritshuis

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