Page 16 - Jordaens

were steadily devouring us humble art dealers! Despite my pessimism in 2001 little prepared me for what was
to develop in the ensuing seventeen years. Today we live in a world of increasing business transparency, aided by
the internet and computerisation, and although one might bemoan the loss of confidentiality, this is an inevitable
consequence. Nevertheless, in recent years the old master market has been particularly stressed by collector’s

interest gravitating primarily toward the contemporary. This is quite evident in a fair such as TEFAF Maastricht
which was originally launched as Pictura by a band of old master dealers. Quite aside from the evils of the ‘buyer’s
premium’ levied by the duopoly (for what services to buyers one might ask and where else can an agent take
commission from both buyer and seller in the commercial environment?) there has been a gravitational emphasis M
towards branding and marketing. The recent sale in New York of a painting attributed to Leonardo for some four
hundred million dollars was a masterpiece of ‘brand promotion’ with cross guarantees of lots in different sectors
of the art market underwiting the sale, a process redolent of the manipulations of Goldman Sachs and products

in the derivatives market. But I do miss the days when I would, as a young man, tiptoe timorously into the august
halls of P. & D. Colnaghi or Thomas Agnew on Old Bond Street to savour great paintings. Contrast this with my
shock when, just before Christmas, I attended an evening viewing at Sotheby’s Old Masters to be confronted by a Y
full blown discotheque blaring and lights so dimmed that you needed a torch to read the labels and estimates! Or
again compare the past to recent promotion by a St James's art gallery using a scantily dressed Polish model in the
window posing as the Magdalen or, indeed, Sotheby’s marketing of the Wright of Derby An Academy by Lamplight
promoted on line with a video containing a gorgeous young creature posing in an advanced state of deshabillé.
Shock! Horror! Titillation! ‘O tempora o mores!’ (Cicero). What has happened to plain vanilla connoisseurship and
art appreciation or indeed ‘Art for Art’s Sake?’ T

I am indebted to Gregory Martin for contributing the essay on the Hermes at Calypso’s Table at a time when he has many
commitments and is, of course, also involved with compiling a catalogue of Jordaens’works. Gregory asked that
the equivalent of the fee for this essay be donated by the Matthiesen Gallery to the Rubenianum Fund and this we
have gladly done in support of such a worthy cause. I am also grateful to Dr Joost Van der Auwera of the Koninklijke
Musea voor Schone Kunsten van Belgie for coming to view both paintings in this catalogue and for his helpful and
supportive comments. I would particularly like to thank Carol Willoughby for her very sensitive conservation of the H

Calypso and record my admiration for the excellent work carried out by Bruce Francis in restoring and fitting the
exceptional Louis XIV frame. Lynn Roberts generously shared her erudition about the frame in a short note and
Matthew Hollow, once again, provided exceptional photographs. I record my thanks to Clare Wadsworth for proof
reading and to Renzo Parini and his team for bearing with me patiently in the production of this publication. It goes
without saying that I thank Jeanne Teston for her assistance.

Patrick Matthiesen

14 15 16

Detail of Plate 1