This is the nineteenth catalogue that I have produced since my gallery was founded in 1985, and it is the first where I have left virtually all the research and editorial to my very talented team – Florence Evans, Charlie Mackay, and my wife Catherine who has now retired. Their diligent work has resulted in some very significant re-discovered works published here for the first time; in particular the monumental equestrian portrait by Gaspar de Crayer of the conde-duque Olivares (cat.no.11), and the full-length portrait by the little-known Amsterdam painter Frans Badens of Gerard Reynst (cat.no.5), which was commissioned in 1613 to commemorate his appointment as 2nd Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.
Following on from the monograph catalogues we recently published on two of my favourite painters, Frans Pourbus the Younger and Cornelius Johnson, also included are two exceptional examples of their work: a beautifully preserved portrait of a Bourbon noblewoman by Pourbus and a rare jewel of a miniature by Johnson.
During the intervening couple of years since our last publication, I am very proud to have made three notable sales to museums: a ravishing Cranach the Younger of a ‘Nymph of the Spring’, purchased by the San Diego Museum of Art, and a masterpiece by William Larkin acquired by the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, with yet another beautiful work by Larkin bought by the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest. I fully expect that some of the paintings in this new catalogue will likewise find institutional homes, as well as ultimately gracing the walls of discerning private collections.
Almost certainly, one such painting is our portrait of the Duc de Bouillon (cat.no.9), who later became Governor of Maastricht, illustrated on our front cover. We are delighted that it has likewise been chosen by TEFAF to grace the cover of their catalogue, and used for the Fair's posters and banners, and by the city of Maastricht itself.