Johan Diederik Pompe van Meerdervoort (1697–1749),(1) Dordrecht and Huis te Meerdervoort, Zwijndrecht, or Jan van Huysum, Amsterdam (sale, Amsterdam, 14 Oct. 1749, lot 8, "Een extra fraye Bloempot, kragtig en uitvoerig geschilderd door Jan van Huysum, in zyn beste tyd, h. 2 v. 8 d., br. 2 v. 1d.," sold for 1,245 florins).(2) Gerrit Braamcamp (1699–1771), Amsterdam, by 1766 (3) (sale, Amsterdam, Van der Schley, 31 July 1771, lot 90, as "H. 31, b. 23 1/2 d. Pnl. Een fraaye Barnsteenen Vaas, waarin verschiede Bloemen geplaatst zyn, dezelve staat op een’ Marmeren Tafel, waarop eenige losse bloemenliggen tegen eenen lichten agtergrond, welke een Landscap verbeeldt. De schikking en Groeping der Bloemen is volgens de Harmonie der koleuren, en de bevallige losheid van dezelve zeer natururlyk, en als door een kragtig Licht bescheenen, verbeeld; alles op ’tuitvoerigste behandeld," sold for 3,800 florins to);(4) Jan Gildemeester Jansz. (1744–1799),(5) Amsterdam (sale, Amsterdam, Philippe van der Schley et al., 11–12 June 1800, lot 89, sold for 3,000 florins [or 3,010?] to); [G. Spaan]. Pieter de Smeth (1753–1809), Lord of Alphen and Rietveld, Amsterdam (sale, Amsterdam, Philippe van der Schley, 1–2 Aug. 1810, lot 47, sold for 4,500 florins to);(6) [Jeronimo de Vries (1776–1853), Amsterdam for];(7) Lucretia Johanna van Winter (1785–1845),(8) Amsterdam, after her marriage in 1822 to Hendrik Six van Hillegom (1790–1847), Six van Hillegom–van Winter collection, Amsterdam,(9) by inheritance 1847 to their sons; Jan Pieter Six van Hillegom (1824–1899) and Pieter Hendrik Six vanVromade (1827–1905), Amsterdam, by inheritance 1905 to Pieter Hendrik Six van Vromade’s son; Jonkheer Jan Willem Six van Vromade, Amsterdam (1872–1936) (sale, Amsterdam, F. Muller, and Co., 16 Oct. 1928, supplement J. W. Six van Vromade, lot 15a, sold for 25,000 florins to); [Gallery A. Staal, Amsterdam, in 1929].(10) Arthur Hartog (1891–1985), Wassenaar, by 1936,(11) confiscated by the Nazis Dec. 1941, sold 1942 by Dr. M. H. H. Franssen through Van Marle en Bignell, The Hague, for 30,000 florins to;(12) Hans Posse (1879–1942) for the Fuhrer Museum, Linz;(13) restituted to the Netherlands Art Property Foundation (Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit, SNK), The Hague, by 1946, restituted Mar. 1948 to Arthur Hartog, London, later New York,(14) sold to; [Gallery S. Nystad, The Hague]. [Newhouse Galleries, New York, sold 1974 to]; Mr. and Mrs. Edward William Carter, Los Angeles, given 1991 to; LACMA.

Footnotes

(1) Johan Diederik Pompe van Meerdervoort and his wife, Johanna Alida (1691–1749), who was his first cousin, both died in 1749. Their heirs were their three daughters, none of whom married. Liedtke 2007, vol. 1, pp. 143–44.

(2) The measurements v and d refer to the Dutch voet (approximately equivalent to a foot) and duim (approximately equal to an inch). The sale catalogue does not distinguish between the two collections. Both men died in 1749. Los Angeles-New York-Boston 1981–82, p. 66n1, concluded that the Carter painting probably belonged to Van Meerdervoort, since it appears at the beginning of the catalogue. Delft-Houston 2006–7, p. 193, disputes the conclusion, noting that the most valuable paintings, including the Van Huysums, were placed at the beginning of the sale. Unfortunately, there is no extant inventory of the collection of either man. The abundance of less valuable paintings by both Jan and Justus van Huysum, as well as drawings and models of flowers (lot 125, "Eenige Modellen van Bloemstukken, 30-0") in the second half of the catalogue, suggests that the majority of the paintings in the first half of the catalogue belonged to the Van Meerdervoort collection.

(3) De Bastide 1766, p. 80. Braamcamp may have already owned the Carter painting in 1751, when Johan van Gool 1750–51 (1971) (vol. 2 [1751], p. 19) noted, "Te Amsterdam by den Heer Braamcamp, een beroemt liefhebber, zyn vier uitmuntendestukken, benevens een schoon Lantschap [by Van Huysum]" (In Amsterdam with Heer Braamcamp,a famous art lover, are four outstanding pieces [still lifes], in addition a beautiful landscape).

(4) Hoet 1752 (1976), vol. 2, p. 503. Bille 1961, vol. 1, pp. 81, 226, fig. 90, vol. 2, pp. 21–22a. Vol. 2, no. 90, p. 100, gives the English translation of the catalogue description: "31 × 23 1/2 in. P[anel]. A fine amber vase containing various flowers, on a marble table on which some loose flowers; a light landscape forms the background. The arrangement and grouping of the flowers is in accordance with the harmony of colours."

(5) For Gildemeester, see De Bruyn Kops 1965.

(6) The other names listed as brokers of the sale included Jan de Bosch, Jan Yver, Cornelis Sebille Roos, Jan Wytman, Jeronimo de Vries, and Theodorus Franciscus Spaan. For the De Smeth van Alphen auction, see Priem 1997, pp. 132–33. That collection, which contained mostly paintings by seventeenth-century Dutch masters, was held in high esteem by contemporaries both in the Netherlands and abroad. According to the Baltimore collector Robert Gilmor, Jr. (1774–1848), who spent time studying in Amsterdam about 1800, De Smeth owned "the choicest collection of works of Wouwermans, Rubens, Ruysdael, Dow, Tenier, Berghem, and van de Velde. You can scarcely name a greater treat to me than such a sight." Priem 1997, p. 133n66, quoted from H. N. B. Clark, "The Impact of Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Genre Painting on American Genre Painting, 1800–1865" (PhD diss., University of Delaware, 1982), p. 78.

(7) For Jeronimo de Vries and his role as Lucretia’s adviser and agent, see Priem 1997, pp. 130ff., who suggests the art dealer was probably an old family friend.

(8) Priem 1997. Lucretia was the daughter of Pieter van Winter (1745–1807), whom Priem notes, pp. 103–4, "possessed one of the most important private collections ever amassed in the Netherlands. Pieter’s collection was divided between Lucretia and her younger sister, Anna Louisa Agatha (1793–1877)." During the fifteen years between her father’s death and her marriage in 1822 to Hendrick Six van Hillegom (1790–1847), Lucretia added fifty-three paintings to her collection, including the Van Huysum. Regarding the Six van Hillegom collection, see Van Eijnden and Van der Willigen 1816–40, vol. 3 (1820), p. 304.

(9) Listed as in the Hendrik Six van Hillegom collection by Smith 1829–42, vol. 6 (1835), no. 55, p. 476, although the painting had been acquired by Lucretia herself.

(10) Listed as the lender in Amsterdam 1929, no. 76, ill.

(11) Listed as the lender to the exhibition in The Hague 1936–37, no. 104. Annotation in an unidentified hand (J. G. van Gelder?) in a copy of the catalogue at the Getty Research Institute notes that Hartog had left the country, but it is unclear at what date. See cat. no. 17n18.

(12) Maximiliaan Henricus Hubertius Franssen was a Dutch lawyer who was appointed by the Nazis in 1941 to supervise properties seized in the Netherlands from those designated as enemies of the Nazis. The valuation of the paintings was made by J. W. Boer on 9 December 1941.

(13) According to Grant 1954, no. 4, p. 17, before Hartog the painting had come "from Art Dealer Esther [Esher] Surrey of the Hague, bought by Dr. Gopel." Dr. Erhard Goepel was the official agent and buyer for Linz in Holland under Posse and Voss. According to the official files of the Netherlands Art Property Foundation (Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit, SNK), The Hague, inv. no. 148, Hans Posse was responsible for the acquisition of the painting for Linz in 1941. Prof. Dr. Posse, formerly the director of the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, was appointed by Hitler the director of the Special Commission for Linz in 1939. From 1939 to 1942 he was the most important official purchaser of works of art for the Nazis.

(14) See cat. no. 17n18.

• Walsh, Jr., John., and Cynthis P. Schneider. A Mirror of Nature:  Dutch Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Edward William Carter (Second Edition).  Los Angeles:  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1992.

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• Meerman, Laurens. "An Unwritten Chapter of Dutch Collecting History: the Painting Collection of Pieter de Smeth van Alphen (1753-1809)." Simiolus, Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art 40, no.1 (2018): 18-98.
• Walsh, Amy L. The Mr. and Mrs. Edward Carter Collection of Dutch Paintings. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019. https://archive.org/details/Carter_Collection_Dutch_Paintings (accessed May 23, 2022).
• Mills, Rosie Chambers. Eternal Medium: Seeing the World in Stone. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2023.
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art Members' Calendar 1992,  vol. 29-30, no. 12-1 (December, 1991-January, 1993).
• Segal, Sam, Mariël Ellens, and Joris Dik. The Temptations of Flora: Jan Van Huysum 1682-1749. Zwolle: Waanders Publishers; Delft: Museum Het Prinsenhof; Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2007.

• King, Jennifer, ed. Vera Lutter: Museum in the Camera. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2020.