(Tönning 1623–1678 Friedrichstadt)
Pentecost,
oil on canvas, 189.4 x 184.8 cm, framed

Provenance:
almost certainly the painting commissioned and acquired by Duke Frederick III. of Schleswig- Holstein-Gottorf in circa 1653-1654 (invoice dated 17 March 1654 for 500 Reichstaler for ‘das Pfingstfest Ihrer hochfürstl. Durchlaucht’);
described in the private chamber of Duke Christian Albrecht, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, 1666;
Hasenkammer, Schleswig, inventory of Schloss Gottorf, 1695;
transferred to Schloss Salzdahlum, Wolfenbüttel in 1695 (according to H. Schmidt, Jürgen Ovens. Sein Leben und seine Werke. Kiel 1922, p. 273, n. 39, 42);
recorded in Schloss Salzdahlum, 1697 and again 1710 and described in 1744: ‘Jurian Ovens; Die Sendung des Heiligen Geistes. H. 6 Fuß 6 ½ Zoll x B 6 Fuß 8 Zoll. Ein Stück von seiner Besten Zeit und von vieler Arbeit’;
described in Eberleins Catalogue of the Salzdahlum Gallery in 1776 (cat. no. 87: ‘Ovens: Die Ausgießung des Heiligen Geistes. Männer und Weiber liegen auf dem Erden, voller Andacht und Entzückung. Einige Stehen mit aufgehobenen Häuptern und beten. Ganze Figuren. Auf Leinewand. 6 Fuß 2 Zoll breit, 6 fuß 8 Zoll hoch’);
transferred from Schloss Salzdahlum to Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel, the Residence of Jerôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, 1808;
transferred to the town of Brunswick, 1814 (according to H. Schmidt, Ibid., 1922, p. 273, n. 42);
deaccessioned after 1814 (according to C. Koester, Jürgen Ovens, Kiel 2017, p. 39);
private collection, Great Britain;
sale, Christie’s, London, 17 December 2020, lot 231 (as Dutch School, circa 1650);
where acquired by the present owner

Literature:
A. F. Harms, Designation derer künstlichen und kostbahren Gemählden welche in denen Gallerien und Cabinetter des Fürstlichen Lust-Schlosses Salzthalen sich befinden, Braunschweig 1744, catalogue manuscript, p. 89, cat. no. 481;
C. N. Eberlein, Verzeichniß der Herzoglichen Bilder-Gallerie zu Salzthalen, Braunschweig 1776, cat. no. 87, pp. 32,33;
H. Schmidt, Jürgen Ovens – Sein Leben und seine Werke, Kiel 1922, pp. 23, n. 151, 150, 272, 273;
A. Fink, Geschichte des Herzog-Anton-Ulrich-Museums in Braunschweig, Braunschweig 1954, reprint in 1967, pp. 27-28;
E. Schlee [ed.], Gottorfer Kultur im Jahrhundert der Universitätsgründung. Kulturgeschichtliche Denkmäler und Zeugnisse des 17. Jahrhunderts aus der Sphäre der Herzöge von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf, exhibition catalogue, Schleswig 1965, p. 261;
A. Walz, Das Zeitalter des aufgeklärten Absolutismus (1735–1806), in: J. Luckhardt (ed.), Das Herzog Anton-Ulrich-Museum und seine Sammlungen, 1578–1754, Munich 2004, pp. 122-175, pp.136, 138;
C. Köster, Jürgen Ovens (1623-1678): Maler in Schleswig-Holstein und Amsterdam, Petersberg 2017, pp. 37-39, n. 192, 196, 197, 198, p. 304

We are grateful to Patrick Larsen and Tico Seifert for independently endorsing the attribution. Larsen, who also helped compile this catalogue note, plans to publish this important rediscovery in a forthcoming essay in ‘Masters of Mobility. Cultural exchange between the Netherlands and the German Lands in the long 17th Century’, a digital project by the RKD. He will include it in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Ovens’ paintings.

Jürgen Ovens, born in the small town of Tönning in present-day Schleswig-Holstein, spent his 40-year career in both the Dutch Republic and Northern Germany. In Tönning he came into contact with Dutch and Flemish art at an early age, where he was probably taught by the Dutch artist Lorenz de Keister. The port city was home to a large Dutch colony, including a number of artists (see P. Larsen, The influence of Dutch and Flemish art on Jürgen Ovens’ work in Schleswig-Holstein, in: Masters of Mobility. Cultural Exchange between the Netherlands and Germany in the long 17th Century, Proceedings of the international two-day symposium, ed. by R. van Leeuwen and J. Roding, The Hague 2020).

Ovens travelled to Holland for training in circa 1638–1643. According to Arnold Houbraken (1660–1719) in the first volume of his Great Theatre of Netherlandish Painters and Paintresses (1718–1721), Ovens was a pupil of Rembrandt. However, stylistically, little in Ovens’ oeuvre reminds of Rembrandt, thus there is no consensus among scholars if the Northern German master actually received his training from the famous artist. The Amsterdam guild register of the relevant years was – unfortunately – discarded in the early nineteenth century. Several of Ovens’ first known paintings make clear, however, that he was integrated in Rembrandt’s environment. His identified early portraits would appear to suggest that he was Govert Flinck’s (1615–1660) disciple, the front man in the workshop of the Amsterdam art dealer Hendrick Uylenburgh (circa 1587–1661) from 1635 until 1644 at the latest. Rembrandt had been in charge of the Uylenburgh shop in the period 1631–1635. Ovens would maintain a lifelong relationship with the Uylenburgh family.

Ovens lived in Amsterdam in the 1640s and from 1657 until 1663; he may also have spent time in Flanders as well. In many of his portraits and especially in his history and allegorical paintings, he appears to have taken the elegant, courtly style of Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) as a model. He returned home to Tönning in 1651, married the next year, and settled in nearby Friedrichstadt, a newly founded town heavily populated with Dutch émigrés. Ovens was involved in a ‘cultural transfer’ from Holland to Schleswig-Holstein in a period when Dutch and Flemish painting was at its peak. He worked as the privileged painter to Duke Frederick III since 1652 (in practice Ovens was court artist to the Duke), who had made his main residence, Schloss Gottorf in Schleswig, a flourishing centre of art and science. The demands of the Dukes of Gottorf, Frederick III and his son and successor Christian Albrecht (1641–1695), differed considerably from those of Ovens’ Dutch clients. Through the works of art created at their court, like Ovens’ sizeable Cycle of the History of Gottorf from 1663/65 (partly kept at Frederiksberg Slot, Hillerød, Denmark, inv. nos. G5; G7; G6; A4600; G8; G9), the dukes strove to join other leading art centres in Europe. Ovens moved back to the Netherlands from Friedrichstadt in 1657. In 1662 he partly reworked Flinck’s Conspiracy of the Batavians under Claudius Civilis from 1659–1660 for Amsterdam’s new town Hall, an originally temporary replacement for a rejected canvas by Rembrandt with the same title (Koninklijk Paleis, Amsterdam, oil on canvas, 546 x 538 cm), which, however, can be seen ‘in situ’ up to this day. A year later, the next duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf, Christian Albrecht (1641–1695), called Ovens back to Friedrichstadt, where he spent his remaining years.
Ovens’ Pentecost, ‘Ein Stück von seiner Besten Zeit’

Kept in the archive of Schleswig-Holstein in Schleswig and dated the 17 March 1654, an invoice for the high sum of 500 Reichsthaler, written by Jürgen Ovens and addressed to his patron, Duke Frederick III of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (1597––1659), describes a painting of the subject of Pentecost (‘Pfingstfest Ihr Hochfstl. Durchl. Unterthän. vorhandelt’). The invoice was paid by the Ducal household in December of that year as the receipt, kept in the state archive in Copenhagen, demonstrates.

It is the first archival trace of an apparently important painting by Jürgen Ovens. The described iconography is in itself remarkable. Pentecost is a rare topic in Northern baroque art, depicting the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1–31). This important work has been considered lost since the early nineteenth century. The rediscovery of the present painting is therefore of great significance. In the present composition, Ovens, in a free and fast manner for which he was well-known, proves his Amsterdam training in the immediate orbit of Rembrandt, either in Rembrandt’s or Govart Flinck’s workshop. The composition is characterised by an elegant colouring, a refined treatment of shimmering and richly modelled surfaces that create an overall light atmosphere. This demonstrates the artist’s emulation of the contemporary courtly style of the Antwerp high baroque, which had gained popularity among aristocratic patrons around the middle of the seventeenth century.   

In addition to the stylistic analysis there are important historical references offering evidence for Ovens as the painter of the present work. Ovens’ Pentecost seems to have been highly valued by Duke Frederick III. It is described in the inventory of 1666 as being in the Ducal chamber in Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (‘In Ihr Hochfürstl. Durchl. Meines Gnädigsten Fürsten und Herren Stübgen; 1 großes Stück von der Ausgießung des Heiligen Geistes am Heilig. Pfingsttage von Ovens gethan’, see C. Köster, Ibid., 2017, pp. 37-39, no. 192, 196, 197, 198, p. 304). The next trace is found in the Gottorf inventory of 1695, where the painting is mentioned as hanging in the ‘Hasenkammer’: ‘die Sändung des heyl. Geistes, von Ovens mit einer schwartz und golden Rahm’. The inventory also refers to a painting by Pieter Lastman, the Battle of Constantine (‘Römische Bataille von Laßmann’, oil on canvas, 161,5 x 170 cm, since 1903 in the Kunsthalle Bremen, inv./cat. no. 251-1903/4; see C. Köster, Ibid., 2017). Tico Seifert, to whom we are grateful, has pointed out that both paintings share a similar provenance right until the early nineteenth century, as well as the unusual almost square format, suggesting both works may have been intended as grand chimney pieces in the ducal apartment. In 1695, Ovens’ Pentecost, according to Schmidt (see H. Schmidt, in literature, p. 273, nos. 39; 42) was likely transferred to Schloss Salzdahlum, Wolfenbüttel, as part of the dowry of Princess Sophia Amalia of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (1670–1710), who had married Prince August Wilhelm of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1662–1731). It formed part of one of the most important princely collections of the old empire and is described in the Salzdahlum inventories during the eighteenth century. Whilst the 1697 and 1710 inventories offer only generic descriptions, the 1744 inventory is more precise: ‘Jurian Ovens; Die Sendung des Heiligen Geistes. H. 6 Fuß 6 ½ Zoll x B 6 Fuß 8 Zoll. Ein Stück von seiner Besten Zeit und von vieler Arbeit’ (see H. Schmidt, Ibid., 1922).

An even better description was published in Christian Nikolaus Eberlein’s first catalogue, which appeared after he was appointed ducal keeper of the gallery in 1776. Eberlein describes Ovens work: ‘Die Ausgießung des Heiligen Geistes. Männer und Weiber liegen auf dem Erden, voller Andacht und Entzückung. Einige Stehen mit aufgehobenen Häuptern und beten. Ganze Figuren. Auf Leinewand. 6 Fuß 2 Zoll breit, 6 fuß 8 Zoll hoch’ (see C. N. Eberlein, in literature). Not only did Eberlein describe a composition that matches the present painting, a further clue is provided by the dimensions given: Brunswick Feet in the eighteenth century were 28.5–29 cm, inches were 2.3–3 cm – this means the paintings dimensions are given as being roughly 185 x 189 cm in 1744, and 189 x 178 cm in 1776. The present painting measures 189.4 x 184.8 cm, which is remarkably close to the measurements provided in the eighteenth century. As far as is known, Ovens’ Pentecost was last mentioned when transferred to Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, the residence of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia. According to Schmidt it was restituted to the city of Brunswick in 1814, but was probably sold in the following years, a fate it shared with many other masterworks of the Salzdahlum Gallery (see H. Schmidt, Ibid., 1922, p. 273, n. 42). Unfortunately, these sales were not always documented: in case of Ovens’ Pentecost, no further archival trace remains (see C. Köster, Ibid., 2017, p. 39, no. 201).

Interestingly, a copy of a Pentecost is listed in the inheritance inventory of the widow of the artist, Maria Ovens (died 1690), drawn up in 1691. As this painting was only valued at 36 Marks, the immense discrepancy in price compared to the 500 Reichsthaler Duke Frederick III had paid in 1654 for the Gottorf Pentecost has lead scholars to conclude that it must have been a small study by the master, or a copy by a pupil (see C. Köster, Ibid., 2017, p. 39). 

The topic is rare in Northern art and there is no archival reference to another painting by Ovens of comparable scale and quality with a similar iconography. A further argument for identifying the present painting as the lost Gottorf Pentecost is the presence of several pentimenti, which demonstrate that corrections were executed during the creative process. Clearly visible, the back book was overpainted to the left. The raised left hand of the man on the balcony was originally painted stretched out. The face of his bearded neighbour in the turban is repositioned, which gives a remarkable effect. Pentimenti can be observed in other paintings by Ovens as well.

According to Patrick Larsen the present painting is a pioneering work in Ovens’ oeuvre. It precedes the Stockholm marriage series, which comprises of three large paintings of two by three metres, executed between 1654 and 1657 (The Marriage of Princess Hedwig Eleonora of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf with King Charles X of Sweden on the 24th of October 1654, The Coronation of Princess Hedwig Eleonora of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf and The Procession of Queen Hedwig Eleonora, all conserved in Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, inv. nos. NM908, NMDrh514 and NMDrh532). Up until now, two of these works – the Marriage and the Coronation- where the first known examples in which Ovens rendered a group of figures in the background of a large interior space and depicted a balcony with onlookers on the left and right side. Compositionally, both paintings are very close to the present work. The work paved the way for Ovens to realise his Stockholm marriage series, in which the main scene – just as in the present work – takes place in the middle section.

Patrick Larsen dates the present work within Ovens’ oeuvre of the 1650s. The applied fluid brushwork in a large part of the painting, most of the facial expressions, the application of the colours and the distribution of light and dark compare well with the Stockholm series. The placing of the figures in the space, the prominence of the courtly whippet dogs, as well as the somewhat messy placed group of apostles in the background reinforce the attribution to Ovens. Noticeable are the somewhat grotesque faces of a few apostles. Figures with similarly executed faces reappear in other large history paintings by Ovens, such as his Count Adolf encounters a lion at the English court in 1560 (Frederiksberg Slot, Hillerød, Denmark, circa 1663, inv. no. G9). The present composition can be considered as a continuation of Ovens’ execution of large religious paintings, like The return of the young Tobias from 1651 (Nantes, Museum of Fine Arts, inv. no. 537) and his Gottorf peace party – The Gottorf ducal family in a peace allegory from 1652 (Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, inv. no. NMGrh 452).

Interest in these elegantly composed large scale dynastic history paintings was wide ranging. Jan Six, Rembrandt’s famous patron, owned a variant en grisaille of the Gottorf Peace Treaty (Frederiksborg Slot, Denmark, inv. no. A4355). According to Larsen, some of the figures in the present work seem to derive from several of Rembrandt’s famous and important prints depicting religious subjects. For instance, the kneeling Virgin in an orange cloak resembles the Virgin in the bottom right of Rembrandt’s etching The Deposition from 1633. The mourning man standing behind Rembrandt’s Virgin could have been the inspiration for the brown-haired figure just below the individual with outstretched arms in the middle of the composition. The kneeling man in the lower left seems to have stepped out from Rembrandt’s well-known Hundred Guilder Print, where he kneels behind Christ and turns his eyes to the Saviour. The boy behind Ovens’ Virgin might have been modelled partly after the apostle standing somewhat separately at the right in Rembrandt’s etching The Death of the Virgin, though one of course should give Ovens some room for inventions of his own. Although it cannot be proven that Ovens was taught by Rembrandt, he certainly knew the master and would have had access to prints of the great artist. Ovens was an art dealer as well, and is recorded to have sold prints in Northern Germany. Furthermore, several works of art of Rembrandt’s Dutch pupils, like Ferdinand Bol (1616-1680) and Flinck were based on prints of their master.