Thomas Simon Cool (1831-1870) - De Jonge Dierenvriend (No Reserve)

Thomas Simon Cool (1831–1870), The Young Animal Friend, 1866. Oil on panel, 31.5 × 38 cm; with frame 45.5 × 42.5 cm. Signed in the upper right corner “T. S. Cool” and dated 1866. Provenance registration: RKD numbers 2F4144158, 2F3987193 and 2F4144156.

Thomas Simon Cool was a Dutch painter, born in 1831 in The Hague and died in 1870 in Dordrecht. He worked, among others, in Amsterdam and The Hague and studied at the The Hague Academy with Jacobus Everhardus Josephus van den Berg and Henri Leys. He also spent time in Paris and Antwerp during his career. At the time of the creation of this work he was employed as a drawing teacher at the Royal Military Academy.

Object description

The scene shows a child leaning forward from a wooden chair and touching a black-and-white cat with the right hand. The cat stands on the tiled floor to the right and is eating from a decorated bowl. The child wears a dark cap with a blue edge, a gray-blue bodice over a light blouse with a fine red pattern, a blue-green skirt, and a red outer garment with a small repeating motif. A bare foot rests on a crossbar of the chair.

The scene takes place in an intimate interior. On the left is a piece of furniture with hanging and stacked garments. Fruits and leaves lie on a green cloth. On the seat and between the bars of the chair lie several smaller objects; on the floor are textiles, a brush-like object and other household items. On the right is a partially cut-off reddish-brown wall cabinet. The light background wall contains several separate reddish-brown brushstrokes. The signature and dating are located in the upper right corner.

Technique and material analysis

The scene is executed in oil on a wooden panel. The paint is predominantly opaque and applied in thin to moderately thick layers. In the face, hands, clothing patterns, the cat’s fur and the various utilitarian objects, the brushwork is short and precisely placed. The background wall is broader and less detailed, with the brushstroke direction locally still discernible. In light areas and small accents there is a locally thicker build-up of paint. A fine craquelé runs across the surface, most noticeable in the light background and in some dark areas.

Composition and formal analysis

The child forms the central vertical and diagonal axis of the composition. The forward-leaning posture links the middle ground with the cat in the lower right. The chair structures the space through a set of vertical members, horizontal rails and slanted contours. The cut-off furniture elements on either side frame the scene and reinforce the intimate character of the interior.

Space is created through overlapping, scale differences and the perspective foreshortening of the floor, chair and furniture. The light background contrasts with the dark areas on the left and bottom. Reddish-brown, blue, green and gray color fields are arranged around the lighter face, hands and the white parts of the cat. Small color accents in the fruits, clothing patterns and objects distribute attention across the picture plane.

Stylistic and art-historical context

The work, dated to 1866, belongs to Dutch Romantic painting. The precise rendering of figure, interior and domestic objects, the intimate interior space and the focus on a mundane action formally align with nineteenth-century genre painting. The staged space, the descriptive handling of materials, and the disciplined light-dark distribution determine the narrative character without requiring any further meaning to be attributed to the scene.

Comparable artists

David Bles, Alexander Hugo Bakker Korff, Johannes Christiaan d’Arnaud Gerkens, Henri Leys, Ludwig Knaus

Condition

The panel is stable. A fine craquelé coating is present over the paint layer, more clearly visible in places. In the light background there are minor superficial irregularities and a few small areas of wear or loss. The paint layer shows no restorations. No major distortions of the support or extensive paint loss are perceptible.

Conclusion

The Young Animal Friend is an interior scene signed and dated 1866 by Thomas Simon Cool, rendered in oil on panel. The compact genre scene centers on the interaction between a child and a cat and is characterized by a detailed depiction of clothing, furnishings and domestic objects. Formally it fits within the Dutch Romantic genre painting of the late nineteenth century. The panel is stable; the paint layer displays a fine craquelé and no retouchings.

The work “De Jonge Dierenvriend” is housed in a white wooden frame with gilded finish.

Total dimensions: 45.5 × 42.5 cm
Medium dimensions: 31.5 × 38 cm

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