| Commentary | The auction was held at the request of Gerrit de Bock (alias Geraerdt de Buck), painter in Amsterdam, 1577-1630, active in Amsterdam from 1607 to 1612 and later in Alkmaar (see R 28329 of Montias2). Gerrit (or Gerard) de Buck may have been the son of Gerard de Buck who died in Brussels and whose inventory was recorded in Amsterdam on 3 September 1609 (NA 36, film 135, Not. Jacob Gysbertsz.) On 21 June 1619, Gerrit de Buck, painter, acknowledged before the Orphan Chamber that he had received the money proceeding from an obligation (in the name of Jacques and Hans van Hanswyck), from which he owed 450 f. to his sister Claertgen. He promised to send from Alkmaar, where he was prsently living, a painting worth about 300 f.. to Jan Dircsz. (van Beuningen), for the purpose of auctioning it off for the maximum amount it would bring within the next 14 days and a month thereafter to send more paintings for the purpose of being auctioned. A note in the Orphan Chamber register stated that Jan Dircsz. had brought in (from the auction) 366 f. 15 st. on 31 July 1620 and that Gerrit de Buck had brought another 83 f. 5 st. to the Chamber on 18 March (cited in Briels, Vlaamse schilders, 1997, p. 307). Note that de twee hammetjes was the place (an inn ?) op den Dam where paintings were usually auctioned in the early years of the 17th century while household goods and clothing were sold elsewhere. |
