L. BEUGHOLT, active early 18th century
L. Beugholt (active The Netherlands, early 18th century)
Portrait of a Lady, half-length, seated, in a blue dress and holding a rose
Oil on panel, 41.9 x 33 cm (16.5 x 13 inch); presented in an antique gilt frame of 18th-century model
Signed ‘L. Beugholt. F 1732’ (lower right)
Provenance
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby’s, 2 June 1954, lot 71; private collection; with Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts, New York, and exhibited at TEFAF Maastricht, 2005; private collection, The Netherlands
Literature
Portraits and other recent acquisitions, Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts, New York 2004, cat. no. 16, repr.
***
Although very little is known about this extremely rare artist, L. Beugholt is considered a talented painter in art historical literature.1 No information at all is extant about his life, not even his first name, and it is likely that he was a talented amateur - it cannot even be excluded that this artist was female rather than male. It is possible that he is related to the family of the Barons Von Bugholtz, who also called themselves Beugholt, various members of which lived in the Rhenen area during the early eighteenth century.
What can be decuded from the two or three signed works which are extant is that he was familiar with the work of the Leiden ‘Fijnschilders’ (fine painters) and Adriaen van der Werff, the leading artist of the period. Other recorded works by the artist are a portrait of Willem Eversdijck (1653-1729), vicar at Rotterdam,2 and a painting of the Virgin with Child with St John the Baptist, dated 1709.3
This rare painting is in very good condition and illustrates Beugholt’s talented hand, especially in the meticulous and jewel-like depiction of various surfaces and fabrics, in which the fine painters excelled, from the soft skin tones to the silks and linens of the lady’s garments and the richly coloured Persian carpet, draped over the stone balustrade. The imposing stone vase inspired by Daniel Marot in the background is typical for this late Baroque period.
1. For the artist, see Roeland van Eijnden and Adriaan van der Willigen, Geschiedenis der Vaderlandsche Schilderkunst, Haarlem 1816-40, vol. I, pp. 233-34 and A.J. van der Aa, Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden…, Haarlem 1852-1878, vol. II, p. 461.
2. E.W. Moes, Iconographia Batava: beredeneerde lijst van geschilderde en gebeeldhouwde portretten van Noord-Nederlanders in vorige eeuwen, Amsterdam 1897, no. 2425.
3. Oil on panel, 39 x 32.5 cm; signed and dated ‘Beugholt / F:1709’, Sotheby’s, 11 December 1974, lot 8, repr.; previously in collection of Gaston Ritter von Mallmann, Blaschkow, Berlin; Frimmel, Blätter für Gemäldekunde, vol. II, Berlin, 1906, p. 159, no. 8.
