Jan Mankes artwork • painting • previously for sale Portrait of a young girl
Jan Mankes
Meppel 1889-1920 Eerbeek
1889-1920
Portrait of a young girl
oil on canvas 20.0 x 16.3 cm, signed u.r. and painted 1915
This painting was previously for sale.
Provenance: collectie P. Rijkens, grondlegger Unilever en verzamelaar, Brockham Park, Bechworth, Surrey, Groot-Brittannië, inv.nr. 12[?].
Literature: Alb. Plasschaert, Just Havelaar, 'Jan Mankes', Wassenaar 1927, pag. 55 (als 'Meisjeskopje', 1911); A. Mankes-Zernike, R.N. Roland Holst, 'Jan Mankes', Wassenaar 1928, pag. 58 (als 'Meisjeskopje, 1911); Alied Ottevanger e.a., 'Jan Mankes 1889-1920', Zwolle 2007, pag. 188, cat.nr. Sch 57.
Jan Mankes, who died of tuberculosis at a young age, was a solitary individual in Dutch art. In 1903 he began working as an apprentice at a Delft stained-glass atelier but in 1908 chose to be a full-time artist instead. He withdrew to his parental home in the Friesian countryside, where he created small, finely painted works of landscapes, people, animals and flowers. His work is characterised by an immense restraint and stillness. It has a dreamlike quality, is vaguely symbolic and, above all, delicate.
© Simonis & Buunk