Balthasar Beschey (Antwerp 1708-1776)
VARIOUS PROPERTIES
Balthasar Beschey (Antwerp 1708-1776)

A portrait of Jacques-Jean Cremers (1736-after 1803) and his wife, dancing, on a garden terrace surrounded by other members of the family playing music; and An elegant company traditionally identified as the wedding of Jacob Johannes Cremers (+ 1786), all seated and making music on a terrace, a village and lake in the distance

Details
Balthasar Beschey (Antwerp 1708-1776)
A portrait of Jacques-Jean Cremers (1736-after 1803) and his wife, dancing, on a garden terrace surrounded by other members of the family playing music; and An elegant company traditionally identified as the wedding of Jacob Johannes Cremers (+ 1786), all seated and making music on a terrace, a village and lake in the distance
The first signed 'Bescheij' (lower left); the second signed and dated 'B : Bescheij 1768' (lower left)
oil on canvas
75.8 x 106 cm.
a pair (2)
Provenance
Commissioned by a member of the Cremers family, and thence by descent.
Literature
Memoires du General Comte François Dumonceau, published between 1960 and 1963 by Jean Puraye, Brussels, I, pp. 5 and 45.

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Nikky Zwitserlood

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Lot Essay

The sitters are traditionally identified as two generations of the Cremers family (Memoires, op.cit.): Jacques-Jean Cremers (1736-after 1803) is standing in the centre, in a red coat, with his wife Anna-Maria-Lucia Heerkens (1737-1801), in a white dress with pink bows. Jacob-Johannes Cremers, the father of Jacques-Jean is seated on the left side between the artist and an ecclesiast. His wife, in a blue dress and holding a lute, is seated to the right side, together with the parents of Anna-Maria-Lucia Heerkens, Anna Maria Meyknecht with a harp, and Eppo Johannes Heerkens playing the violin. The second painting depicts a scene from the wedding of the parents of Jacques-Jean Cremers, Jacob-Johannes Cremers (+ 1762) and Cornelia Johanna Nicolai (+ 1786).

The present pair of paintings is a rare and important example of Balthasar Beschey's portraiture, which has been in the family of the present owners since its commission. In the wedding scene Beschey adopts the compostion of David Teniers' famous family concert in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin.

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