Willem Kalf

Rotterdam 1619 - Amsterdam 1693

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Interior of a Barn with a man and a woman in front of a Fireplace.

Oil on Panel, 24.2 x 21.2 cm

Signed with the Calf painting hanging above the fireplace (top left).

Bears a red wax seal with the combined coat of arms of Baron Henri de Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon and his first wife, Lucie Guillelmine Henriette Adélaïde de Trimond (on the reverse of the panel).

ENQUIRIES

Provenance

[Perhaps] Georges-Alexis-Bertrand Rémond (died in 1778), former steward to King Louis XV; his sale, rue Villedot, Paris, July 6, 1778 and following days, (Girardin), lot 35 (according to L. Grisebach, 1974, op. cit., no. 18, who specifies that this provenance can also apply to no. 12);
[Perhaps] Acquired at this sale by Jacques Langlier;
[Perhaps] François-Louis Tronchin (1709-1781); his anonymous sale [Cabinet de M***], former Hôtel de Bullion, Paris, January 12, 1780 and following days, (Me Lebrun), lot 57 (according to L. Grisebach, 1974, op. cit., no. 18, who specifies that this provenance can also apply to no. 12); [Perhaps] Acquired during this period by Prévot;
Cabinet of Count Joseph André Joseph de Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon (1709-1761) (according to the inscription in the margin of the engraving by Pierre-François Basan, see below);
Then by descent to his son, Count Louis Zacharie de Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon (1734-1783);
Then by descent to his son, Baron Henri de Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon (1763-1846) (according to the wax seal on the back of the panel);
Then by descent to his son, Count Gaston Paul de Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon (1817-1854);
Acquired from him by Adolphe Schloss (1842-1910) through Kunsthandel F. Kleinberger, in 1903;
Adolphe Schloss, Paris, until 1910;
Then by inheritance to his wife, Lucie Schloss née Haas (1858-1938), Paris, from 1911 until 1938;
Then by descent to the Schloss heirs, Paris, in 1938;
Transferred by the Schloss heirs to the Château du Chambon, Laguenne (Corrèze) [deposit of the Dutch bank Jordaan], on August 19-20, 1939;
Seized by officials of the Vichy regime and German agents on April 16, 1943, and transferred to the Banque de France, Limoges, on April 24, 1943;
Transferred to the General Commissariat for Jewish Affairs (CGQJ), Paris, August 10-11, 1943 (inv. Schloss 128);
Transferred to the Jeu de Paume, Paris, November 2 or 3, 1943 (inv. Schloss 108);
Transferred to the Führerbau, Munich, December 2, 1943 (Kiste Nr. München Führerbau 12), for inclusion in the Führermuseum;
Stolen from the Führerbau, Munich, April 29-30, 1945;
Private collection, Germany, after 1952;
Then by descent within the family;
Returned to the heirs of Adolphe Schloss in 2025.

Literature

F. Basan, Recueil de cent cinquante estampes diverses…, Second volume, Paris 1762 (title given: La Cabane, Ennemie de l’Envie);
Ch. Blanc, Histoire des peintres de toutes les écoles, Ecole Hollandaise, Vol. 2, Paris 1861, under Kalf, reproduced;
U. Thieme, F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig, 1926, XIX, p. 465;
Commandement en chef français en Allemagne et al., Répertoire des biens spoliés en France durant la guerre 1939-1945, Berlin, 1947, II [Tableaux, tapisseries et sculptures], p. 167, n.*3725, reproduced in black and white p. 174k, fig. 3725;
L. Grisebach, Willem Kalf, 1619-1693, Berlin 1974, pp. 72-73, pp. 216-217, no. 18, fig. 21 and engraving fig. 61;
M. Hamon-Jugnet et Ministère des affaires étrangères, Collection Schloss: oeuvres spoliées pendant la deuxième guerre mondiale non restituées (1943-1998), Paris, 1998, p.95 (comme avec des traces de signature), reproduit en noir et blanc.