| About the painter
Tijmen Moll (1890-1975) is a Dutch painter born in Huizen. He was active in the period 1910-1974. At a young age he worked in the Hilversum Plateelbakkerij Delft (HPD). Later on, he became a teacher in the Avondtekenschool in Huizen and after this he was a director there as well. He went on to study in several renowned academies - in Hendrick de Keyserschool in Amsterdam, Institute Piersma in Amsterdam and the Academy of visual arts in The Hague and his teachers were Reinier de Vries and Heinrich Martin Krabbe. Moll was also a member of circles like De Independen and St. Lucas in Amsterdam and the Gooische Schilders in Laren (Gooi is the area he lived in, literally translates to Gooi's Painters). He painted many landscapes, village scenes and portraits of fellow villagers. He was also an etcher, watercolorist, pastelist and oil painter drawing on subjects such as landscapes , interior and still life. In his late years after 1950s he was also active in Sweden, Germany and Italy. His work is exhibited in many museums in The Netherlands, including Het Huizer Museum and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
About this piece
This is an extremely large beautiful hand painted oil painting. Dimensions are 94x74cm without the frame. With the frame the size is approximately 103 by 83cm. It could have been painted anywhere from 1910s to 1950s. As such it has suffered through many years and it shows some minor scars, but overall in good condition. It is a still life painting depicting every day life objects, such as a table with a book and a flower pot. The contrast and light falls on the table cloth, the shell and the book. The background is darker, it reminds of fragility, especially the 2 ceramic pieces and the flower pot, which are ceramic. This sets a tone about fragility and also the fact that every day objects in life can be very fragile.
Condition of the painting
This painting is in a mild condition in my non-expert opinion. There is no major damage.. The canvas shows some warping in the right side, mostly in the upper part (can be seen in one of the pictures with the flowers), as well as some light paint crackle and paint loss in 1 spot. In the meantime the canvas tension is good and there is no sagging of the canvas. The varnish is mostly sealed well. There is a light paint craquelure in several spots. Examining the backside of the canvas and the canvas frame, we can see the 4 corners are slightly becoming loose, although they are still holding the canvas together. The external frame is still in a very good condition, however it has a few cosmetic defects, such as 3-9mm chipped spots in the front which have been previously retouched by the owner with golden paint. The frame is still in good condition and holds all 4 corners well as can be seen in the images.
Overall impression
To sum up, this painting has seen some good and some bad days but it is still in overall a good condition. It is very beautiful to hang and admire as a painting of a bygone era of great Dutch painters. Reconditioning and possibly reframing are a choice the future owner. |