A rare landscape painted by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Queen Wilhelmina (1880-1962) was a talented artist. Thanks to lessons from painters such as Albert Roelofs, Willem van Konijnenburg and Louis van Soest she managed to reach a professional level. In 1932 she was invited to join the Hague artists’ association Pulchri as a working member. Wilhelmina painted and drew almost exclusively landscapes, on the Veluwe and in the Scheveningen dunes, but also in Norway, Switzerland, England and Scotland.
Only a handful of paintings by Wilhelmina have ever been offered at auction. The work we will auction has an interesting provenance; the landscape with field and tree, painted in England in 1943, was given as a token of gratitude to a family member of the current owner. This work was a gift from Her Majesty the Queen personally, in April 1945, as a token of appreciation to Jules Kockelkoren, following an article by him entitled ‘Uit de Schilderswereld’ in the organ of the Stoottroepen ‘Strijdend Nederland’ (lot number 6520).