Painting of nine babies playing in the woods

Painting of the Babies.

(Oil on canvas)

The story about the painting of the babies that I’ve been told is as follows:

The physical size of the painting with and without frame is:

(All measurements are approximate.)

49” wide by 14 ¾” high with frame.

124 cm wide by 37 cm high with frame.

46 5/8” wide by 12 ½” high without frame.

119 ½ cm wide by 31 ½ cm high without frame.

The way the story was related to me is that there was a well to do couple from Amsterdam that owned a summer home just outside of the town where I lived in Soesterberg, Utrecht the Netherlands.

During World War II, they had decided to hide several antique items (the painting of the babies among them) at our neighbors’ house in Soesterberg away from the Germans. These items continued to be stored there until years later when my father acquired them from our neighbors.

Many years later my father had purchased the neighbors house along with the land behind their and our house, our neighbors (who had at this time become elderly with no family) had shared the story with my father.

My father, after purchasing the neighbors house, had graciously offered for them to live out their natural life in the house after selling it to him.

Through a life long friendship with our neighbors, they had given several of the stored antiques to my father, which was then handed down to me.

The second part of the story that I was told was that this particular painting was from a set of two paintings that had hung in the palace of Dutch royalty, one being a horizontal painting (the one I own) and one being a vertical painting.

After careful examination a signature is not visible anywhere on the painting and any online researches have come up empty.

Good