Sientje Mesdag-van Houten (1834-1909) - Sfeervol stilleven met een kom fruit, een potplant met klimop en een vaas

Sientje Mesdag-van Houten
Born Groningen, December 23, 1834
Died The Hague, March 20, 1909.

This is a classical oil painting, an atmospheric still life with a bowl of fruit (apples and an orange), a potted plant with ivy, and a vase with Judas’ penny.

Canvas size: 56 x 47 cm.
Frame size: 71 x 61 cm.

Van Houten was born in December 1834 in Groningen as the third of nine children of Derk van Houten and Barbara Elisabeth Meihuizen.

One of her brothers was the later minister Samuel van Houten.

Her father owned a large sawmill on the Damsterdiep.

She married on April 23, 1856 in Groningen the stockbroker Hendrik Willem Mesdag, the later Dutch marine painter of the Hague School.

She herself also came from an artistic family; her cousin Alida van Houten and nephew Gerrit van Houten were known as painters in Groningen.

Sientje supported her husband in 1864 when he gave up his commercial career to devote himself entirely to painting.

That choice was financially made possible by the inheritance Sientje received after her father's death.

She herself also drew and painted.

After the death of her only child in 1871—the almost eight-year-old son Klaas—she too devoted herself entirely to painting, as did her husband.

She focused on landscape painting and still lifes, but also painted portraits.

Johannes Christiaan d'Arnaud Gerkens (1823-1892) was her drawing teacher.

In painting she was helped by the painters Willem Roelofs and Lourens Alma Tadema, her nephew by marriage.

In 1881 she contributed to the Panorama Mesdag.

During her painting she was portrayed by her husband while he worked on the panorama.

Also in the panorama itself she is depicted, sitting behind her easel.

When sold, the painting with its frame is carefully packed and internationally shipped with track and trace.