This one was chosen because it shows a Dutch interior scene, so in keeping with our International theme of the week - but also through it being quite a scarce set these days. Perhaps this is down to art tastes having changed, or that younger collectors are not so interested in Old Masters.
However this artist, Pieter Hendricksz de Hooch, is quite fascinating, and also rather groundbreaking, for, like here, he shows a domestic interior which would have been quite well hidden to the general public. Often he shows rooms from the view of a passer by, who has managed to find a door open and unguarded, and is stealing a qlimpse inside, curiously.
Our artist is a sketchy fellow. We know he was baptised on December the 20th, 1629, but there is not a trace of him recorded after that until he turns up in Delft in August 1652, in his mid twenties, where he had travelled in order to witness the signing of a legal document, often said to be a will. We know he had seven children, though his wife died in 1667, just thirteen years after they were wed. But we have no idea of when he died, only that he was definitely seen alive in 1683, and signed a painting the following year, though some feel the date was added in another hand.
This card contains a couple of inaccuracies. It gives the artist`s date of death as 1677, which is definitely not true. And the given title of the painting, "Interior of a Dutch House", is also incorrect - it is titled "A Woman Drinking with Two Men", or, sometimes, as "..with two Cavaliers". It was painted about 1658, and it remains in the collection of the National Gallery in London, though it is sadly not currently out on display.
The last private owner of this painting was Sir Robert Peel, the British Prime Minister, who was also a Trustee of the National Gallery. It appears that his intention was to leave them his entire collection on his death, for the nation, but his son wanted to keep them, and also to buy more. Sadly this son then ran into financial difficulties, and was forced to put all the paintings up for sale at Christies Auction House. The National Gallery then heard of this, and they came to an arrangement where they bought the bulk of the collection, for £75,000. This does seem to have been a private deal, outside of the auction.
It is catalogued in our original Godfrey Phillips reference book, RB.13, published in 1949, as :
69. 26 FAMOUS PAINTINGS. Postcard size, 128 x 89 m/m. Series title and brief descriptive text on backs of cards Nos. 2-12 and 22, on fronts of other numbers. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in postcard format. Home and export issue 1938. Varieties : Nos. 16 and 19 are known with numbers transposed.
However in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes it is simply :
FAMOUS PAINTINGS. Postcard size and format. Nd. (26)