Hubertus van Hove, 
Dutch 1814-1865- 
An Interior with a mother and child; 
oil on panel, signed ...

Hubertus van Hove, 
Dutch 1814-1865- 

An Interior with a mother and child; 

oil on panel, signed  'HVHove' (lower right), further signed 'H Van Hove', inscribed and dated 'Antwerpen 27 October 1860', and further inscribed in Dutch and French all on the reverse, 72.1 x 59.5 cm. 

Provenance: 
Robert English Esq., 21 Portman Square, London, W1.
The trustees of the late Robert English Esq. sale, Christie's, London, 27 February 1925, lot 42, titled 'LA MENAGÉRE' (£157-10s [=150 guineas] to ‘Clayton’). 
Mrs Kinross, 1941 (according to an old label attached to the reverse of the frame). 
Private Collection, UK. 

Note: 
Van Hove's oeuvre was clearly heavily inspired by that of 17th-century Dutch painters, particularly Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684) and Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693). Like these painters before him, he was highly interested in interior scenes which are at once heavily laden with symbolism and meaning, and yet highly enigmatic. Indeed, the present work combines motifs which recur regularly in such 17th-century genre paintings: in particular, the imagery of the mother and child and that of the female figure engaged in needlework. Here, van Hove has contrasted the sitter's domestic role, within an interior, with the male figure chopping logs, glimpsed through the doorway. The composition is characteristic of Van Hove's oeuvre, strongly recalling that of 'The Knitter', held in the Teylers Museum, Haarlem [KS 114]. An interior scene of similar size by the artist sold recently at Christie's, London, 16 December 2021, lot 33 (£10,000).