ABSTRACT
In his last book Art at Auction in 17th Century Amsterdam, published in 2002, Michael Montias observed that during the first half of the 17th century the works of the painter Govert Janszn frequently crossed the Amsterdam art market. With eleven occurrences between 1597 and 1638 Govert Jansz ranked eighth among the artists most frequently mentioned in auction sales, preceded by Karel van Mander, Pieter Aertsen, and Gillis van Conincxloo, but ahead of Cornelis van Haarlem, Roelant Saverij, and Hendrick Avercamp. 2 After the publication of Art at Auction, Montias continued adding to his Database of Amsterdam inventories and shortly before his death he completed his posthumously published article, “Artists named in Amsterdam inventories, 1607–1680,” in which he established again that the works of Govert Janszn featured prominently in the Amsterdam art market. 3 By then, he had found a total number of 47 mentions in 22 inventories and a few dealers’ stocks. 4 Thus, the artist still ranked twelfth among the thirty-one artists with the greatest number of paintings by lots, having been overtaken only by a few masters of the younger generation, such as Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan van Goyen.
