Description
On 27 May 1664, an Amsterdam newspaper announced that three paintings by Paulus Potter would be auctioned the following day at the tavern of a certain Jean de Chezeaulx. The largest of the three was undoubtedly Potter’s most famous painting, The Bull. The second depicted the mythological Europa on the back of Jupiter disguised as a bull, of which only the bull’s head has survived, in Dublin. The smallest was probably a panel that now hangs in Munich, Peasant Family with Livestock. In a new piece of detective work, the music and art historian Thiemo Wind attempts to answer the question: was De Chezeaulx merely providing a platform for the auction, or was he himself the earliest owner of the three Potter paintings?
