Morning hour 1903

For description see text below.

JQAW# G_1903_020
Oil on wood, 39 x 48 cm
Signature: John Q. Ɑdams Volendam
Illustration: Auction catalog Dorotheum Vienna 28.11.1972 Lot 598 Plate 100
Unknown private collection.

Dutch interior scene. A young woman in Dutch costume with a white hood is sitting on a chair at a table and holding a steaming cup of tea with both hands. The simple interior is depicted in detail: The walls are wood-paneled, the floor consists of wooden planks. There are two chairs by the table and a kerosene lamp above it. The morning light enters through a window in the middle background and illuminates the contemplative scene. To the left of the window, an armoire is visible with several vessels on it. To the right of the window is a simple wooden shelf, on which there are several books. On the table is a tray, on it a small jug and an empty vase. On the floor to the left of the sitter a wide-bellied ceramic jar is shown, on the right front leg of the table there is a brass jar with a lid placed also on the floor.

This harmonious interior scene, probably in the muted Rembrandt-style brown and red tones typical for Adams, is documented only from the Dorotheum auction of 28.11.1972. The painting is almost certainly identical to one of the numerous Dutch interior studies Adams painted between 1901 and 1903 and exhibited at the Vienna Künstlerhaus (the enrollment book lists at least 5 such interior studies -- but a concrete assignment is not possible due to lack of picture descriptions and dimensions). It is dated here as 1902 (in APH as 1903/04), the year in which most Dutch interior studies were painted.

Cross-references

Exhibited

Literature

APH, catalog raisonné JQA 1995, p. 54, cat.23, fig.13

Provenance

Unknown.
Auction Dorotheum Vienna 28.11.1972 Lot 598
Unknown private collection.