An Old Friend
August Allebé (1838 - 1927), Brussels, 1870
oil on panel, 61.6 cm x 33.8 cm
Credits: The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
This museum guard strolls past the plaster casts of ancient sculptures. The largest is a copy of the famous statue Venus de Milo. The feather duster tucked under his arm is for cleaning the works of art. It is unknown why August Allebé titled this work An Old Friend.
The painting was originally twice as large. It had already been sawn in two before it came into Mesdag’s possession. Allebé did this himself: he was dissatisfied with the scene’s perspective. The other half, featuring elegant museum visitors, is in the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
From 1880, Allebé was a teacher at, and later director of, the National Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam. He trained many artists.
- Object number
- hwm0002
- Dimensions
- 61.6 cm x 33.8 cm, 80 cm x 52 cm, 8 cm
- Provenance
- Consigned by the artist to the Scheveningen lottery, Union Pro-Boer de La Haye (Peintures, Sculptures et autres oeuvres d’Art, offertes par des Artistes du Monde entier pour la Loterie Internationale en faveur des Veuves, Orphelins et autres Indigents Boers), lot 6 (Un vieil ami), 1902; consigned by the artist to auction The Hague, Association Pro-Boer de La Haye at Pulchri Studio (Tableaux, Aquarelles, Sculptures, Eaux fortes, etc. provenant de la Loterie d’art internationale en faveur des Veuves, Orphelins et autres victimes Boers de la Guerre Sud-Africaine), lot 2 (Un vieil ami), purchased by Hendrik Willem Mesdag, The Hague for NLG 127, 11-15 June 1904; Collection Museum Mesdag donated by Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten to the State of the Netherlands, 14 May 1903; Rijksmuseum H.W. Mesdag, The Hague, from 1 August 1903; in trust of the Mauritshuis, The Hague, between 1934 and 1990; in trust of the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, from 1 April 1990; Museum Mesdag, in trust of the Van Gogh Museum Foundation, Amsterdam, from 1 July 1994, under the name of De Mesdag Collectie from 2011.
- artist
- August Allebé
- Credits
- The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
Fouw, J. de, Geschenken voor Willem III : kunstenaars eren de koning, Delft, 2014, p. 14
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., De Mesdag Collectie, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 65
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., The Mesdag Collection, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 65
Bodt, Saskia de, Leeman, Fred, Leeuw, Ronald de, Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : catalogue of paintings and drawings, Zwolle, 1996, p. 73-75, 345
Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : een selectie uit de verzameling, p. 12