signed with monogram and dated ‘HSL 1663’
black chalk and watercolour (recto); bodycolour (verso)
8.4 x 5.2 cm

Provenance:
With C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, 1924.
Anonymous sale; C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, 13 November 1924, lot 415 (part of lot of three drawings,
‘160 DM [to] Siegfried’).
With C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, 1948, from whom presumably acquired by
Dr. Walter Beck (1895-1960), Berlin (L.2603b) by descent to
Dr. Hans-Ulrich Beck (1930-2010), Augsburg (his mark, not in Lugt) and by descent to the previous
owner.

Literature:
W. Schulz, Leben und Werke. Mit einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Berlin and
New York, 1982, no. 1315.

Herman Saftleven was born in Rotterdam in 1609 as the younger brother of Cornelis Saftleven
(1607-1681).1 Like his elder brother, Herman was a hugely prolific painter and draughtsman, leaving
no less than 1100 drawings, around 300 paintings and 41 etchings. In 1632, the artist moved to
Utrecht and he depicted that city and its surroundings in many of his drawings. Besides topographical
drawings, Saftleven’s drawn œuvre also consists of figure, genre and flower drawings, offering a
kaleidoscopic view of life in 17th-century Holland.

Perhaps among the most original and playful drawings by Saftleven are those that are part of a
group of drawings showing single figures executed on the back of playing cards. [2] The versos of
these drawings depict playing cards, while the rectos carry watercolours by Saftleven showing
peasants occupied in a variety of activities. Schulz knew of thirteen drawings from what he called the
‘Spielkarte-Gruppe’; whether Saftleven ever completed a whole deck of these drawn playing cards
remains unclear. Two drawings from this group are in the Frits Lugt Collection, Fondation Custodia,
Paris and interestingly the landscapes shown in these sheets join together, creating one landscape
scene. [3] Two further drawings, one showing a cloaked man and the other a man drinking from a jug,
are in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. [4]

[1] W. Schulz, Herman Saftleven. 1609-1685. Leben und Werke. Mit einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und
Zeichnungen, Berlin and New York, 1982, p. 2.
[2] W. Schulz, op. cit., nos. 1315-1327.
[3] Ibid., nos. 1326-1327, ill.
[4] Ibid., nos. 1320-1321; inv. WA1863.279 and WA1863.280.