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ID #SA1025434
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£22,000
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18th Century Portrait Painting of the Artist's Daughter Playing the Cello by Balthasar Denner (1685-1749)
For sale by Isherwood Fine Art
for sale €25,740     $27,940
£22,000
Isherwood Fine Art

Isherwood Fine Art

Sellingantiques Verified Since Oct 2023
Browse dealers 37 items
  • About Us
    16th to 19th century old master, british and european paintings and sculpture, specialising in period portraiture. Member BADA, LAPADA.
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    Isherwood Fine Art is a registered member of LAPADA  BADA 
Id #SA1025434
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18th Century Portrait Painting of the Artist's Daughter Playing the Cello by Balthasar Denner (1685-1749)

18th century
Description

The sitter, seated in a yellow silk gown trimmed with a pink bow playing the cello, is believed to be the artist Balthazar Denner's eldest daughter Catharina (1715-1744), after his marriage to Esther Winter in Hamburg in 1712. She is also recognisable in another portrait of the Denner family in the Hamburg Kunsthalle, painted circa 1740 by the artist's son, Jacob Denner (1722-1765). Oil on canvas in a period giltwood frame.

Provenance: Private collection, Northern Germany

Professor Helmut Borsch-Supan, Berlin, confirmed the authenticity of the painting after examining it in 2013. The painting will also be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonnée of the artist, by Ute Mannhardt.

Balthasar Denner was born in Hamburg which was at that time part of Denmark. He began as a painter of portrait miniatures and his eye for detail continued into his larger scale portrait paintings which were greatly admired for their meticulous accuracy and made him highly sought after. Denner is recorded as being at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin in 1707 before going to work at the Copenhagen court in 1712. This began his travels around the European courts, including London, Dresden, Berlin, Kiel and Amsterdam. After four years in Amsterdam from 1736 to 1740, he settled in Rostock where he died in 1749.

Denner loved music and it is said that he had his children, who were talented musicians, play for him while his sitters posed for their portraits. As well as the royals and nobles of Europe, his sitters included Georg Friedrich Handel, painted in 1726 (National Porttrait Gallery London) and in 1733 (Berlin, Deutsch Historiches) and Johann Sebastian Bach with his three sons (1733, private collection).

Denner depicted his own family playing music in a painting probably painted in London in 1728 before his departure for Germany (now in the Copenhagen Museum).

Date of Manufacture

Isherwood Fine Art has dated this 18th Century Portrait Painting to the 18th Century.

Independent Date Guide ID 08178038
Dealer's Item Date18th Century
Sellingantiques Date18th Century
Sellingantiques agingItem 270-295 years old
ResultsDates match
Why Sellingantiques dated this piece to THE 18TH CENTURY:
Sitter's yellow gown and pink bow: fixes the clothing fashion to the 1740s.
Baroque cello held without an endpin: fits mid-18th century musical practice.
Swept gilt frame with pierced foliate corners: fits framing styles from around 1750.

This Independent Date Guide was compiled by Sellingantiques using its own proprietary system. It works only from the photographs shown on this page and is never told the date the dealer has declared. It is a guide, not a guarantee of age, and occasional errors can occur.

Physical Dimensions
Height
88cm (34.65")
Width
75cm (29.53")
Reference Numbers
Sellingantiques Reference
SA1025434
Dealers Notes

Isherwood fine art

Description
The sitter, seated in a yellow silk gown trimmed with a pink bow playing the cello, is believed to be the artist Balthazar Denner's eldest daughter Catharina (1715-1744), after his marriage to Esther Winter in Hamburg in 1712.
“
She is also recognisable in another portrait of the Denner family in the Hamburg Kunsthalle, painted circa 1740 by the artist's son, Jacob Denner (1722-1765).
Isherwood Fine Art

Oil on canvas in a period giltwood frame.

fig 1. An 18th-century oil painting depicting a seated woman in a yellow dress playing a cello, contained within an ornate carved gold frame.
fig 1. 18th Century Portrait Painting of the Artist's Daughter Playing the Cello by Balthasar Denner (1685-1749)

Provenance: Private collection, Northern Germany

Professor Helmut Borsch-Supan, Berlin, confirmed the authenticity of the painting after examining it in 2013. The painting will also be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonnée of the artist, by Ute Mannhardt.

Balthasar Denner was born in Hamburg which was at that time part of Denmark. He began as a painter of portrait miniatures and his eye for detail continued into his larger scale portrait paintings which were greatly admired for their meticulous accuracy and made him highly sought after. Denner is recorded as being at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin in 1707 before going to work at the Copenhagen court in 1712. This began his travels around the European courts, including London, Dresden, Berlin, Kiel and Amsterdam. After four years in Amsterdam from 1736 to 1740, he settled in Rostock where he died in 1749.

Denner loved music and it is said that he had his children, who were talented musicians, play for him while his sitters posed for their portraits. As well as the royals and nobles of Europe, his sitters included Georg Friedrich Handel, painted in 1726 (National Porttrait Gallery London) and in 1733 (Berlin, Deutsch Historiches) and Johann Sebastian Bach with his three sons (1733, private collection).

Denner depicted his own family playing music in a painting probably painted in London in 1728 before his departure for Germany (now in the Copenhagen Museum).

Date of Manufacture

Isherwood Fine Art has dated this 18th Century Portrait Painting to the 18th Century.

Independent Date Report ID 08178038
Dealer's Item Date18th Century
Sellingantiques dating18th Century
Sellingantiques agingItem 270-295 years old
ResultsDates match
Why Sellingantiques dated this piece to the 18th Century:
Sitter's yellow gown and pink bow: fixes the clothing fashion to the 1740s.
Baroque cello held without an endpin: fits mid-18th century musical practice.
Swept gilt frame with pierced foliate corners: fits framing styles from around 1750.

This is an independent date report produced by Sellingantiques using its own proprietary system. The process uses the photographs shown on this page. The system is never told the date the dealer has declared. This report shows that the two dates corroborate.

Height
88cm (34.65")
Width
75cm (29.53")
Reference Numbers
Sellingantiques Ref
SA1025434
Isherwood Fine Art
Isherwood Fine Art
Sellingantiques verified Since Oct 2023

16th to 19th century old master, british and european paintings and sculpture, specialising in period portraiture. Member BADA, LAPADA.

Dealer Profile

You can view the stock and full dealer information on the Isherwood Fine Art Profile Page

Trade Associations

Isherwood Fine Art is a registered member of LAPADA  BADA 

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An 18th-century oil painting depicting a seated woman in a yellow dress playing a cello, contained within an ornate carved gold frame.
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Archive I An 18th-century oil painting depicting a seated woman in a yellow dress playing a cello, contained within an ornate carved gold frame.

18th Century Portrait Painting of the Artist's Daughter Playing the Cello by Balthasar Denner (1685-1749)

Archive II An 18th-century oil painting depicting a seated woman in a yellow dress playing a cello, contained within an ornate carved gold frame. View II
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Somerset
United Kingdom

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Items Sold 38
Isherwood Fine Art
Isherwood Fine Art
Verified Since Oct 2023
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Location: Bath, Somerset, United Kingdom, , By appointment only., , Viewing in London by appointment.
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An 18th-century oil painting depicting a seated woman in a yellow dress playing a cello, contained within an ornate carved gold frame.
18th century portrait painting of the artist's daughter playing the cello by Balthasar Denner (1685-1749)
Ref: SA1025434
An 18th-century oil painting depicting a seated woman in a yellow dress playing a cello, contained within an ornate carved gold frame.
Detail View 1
Archival Detail
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Written by Sellingantiques from the dealer’s photographs and listing
  • ObjectPaintings
  • Period18th century
  • StyleRococo
  • MaterialOil on Canvas, Gilded Wood
  • ColourGold and Yellow
  • MotifsGilded carved frame, Cello player detail, Rocaille cresting, Period costume
  • SizeH 88 cm (35 in) x W 75 cm (30 in)

This eighteenth-century Rococo oil on canvas painting depicts a seated woman wearing a yellow silk gown trimmed with a pink bow, playing a cello. The artwork is housed within an ornate gilded wood frame featuring rich rocaille cresting, deep mouldings, and intricate floral carvings along the borders. The palette centres on warm gold and yellow tones set against a dark background, complemented by the natural timber hues of the cello and the sitter's detailed period costume. The painting measures 88 cm high and 75 cm wide. Traditional in style, the piece fits neatly into an English Country House interior aesthetic. It functions well as a focal point in a living room, dining room, or hallway, and is commonly positioned above the mantel to draw the eye. Hanging hardware on the back supports secure wall mounting at eye level to showcase the detailed brushwork and ornate frame.

Eighteenth-century portraiture frequently focused on refined brushwork, naturalistic representation, and detailed depictions of fabric, musical instruments, and personal attire to denote status and culture.

Artists typically painted with hand-ground oil pigments on hand-woven linen or hemp canvas, stretched onto wooden stretchers and housed in hand-carved, gilded wooden frames.

Authentic pieces exhibit natural craquelure consistent with age, historic canvas lining or hand-forged tacks on the stretcher, period-correct pigment composition, and contemporary hand-carved gilt framing.

A large framed historical portrait serves as an anchor piece above a mantelpiece or sideboard, providing visual contrast when paired with modern furniture or minimalist colour palettes.

Keep the painting away from direct sunlight and heat sources, maintain stable room humidity, dust gently with a soft microfibre brush, and consult a professional restorer for cleaning or structural repairs.
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