Portrait of a Monkey with Wine Jug
Zacharias Noterman (Belgium & France 1820-1890)
Initialed "Z N" l.r.
Oil on board
8 x 6 inches (17-1/4 x 15 in frame)
 
PROVENANCE: Galerie Tamenaga, Paris (label verso); Louvre des Antiquaires, Paris; Berman Swarttz, Los Angeles, California, Marcella Swarttz, Beverly Hills, California    

Zacharias Notermann (1820 in Ghent – 1890 in Paris) was a Belgian painter and printmaker who specialized in scenes with monkeys engaging in human activities (the so-called singeries), as well as in paintings of dogs. He also produced images and scenes of traveling circuses.
 
Zacharias Noterman was born in Ghent in the family the son of an artist-decorator. He was originally trained by his older brother Emmanuel Noterman, a genre and animal painter active in Antwerp. Noterman continued his art education at the Academy of fine arts Antwerp. Zacharie Noterman lived with his brother in Antwerp. Later he moved to Paris where he showed his work at the salon. His last participation at the Paris modern salon was 1879 and 1880.
 
Noted for painting mainly scenes with animals including portraits of dogs and cats, Noterman was particularly interested in the subject of singeries, which are humoristic paintings and etchings of monkeys engaging in human activities. The monkeys in the scenes are often dressed in costumes which adds comedy to their 'aping' of a specific human action (often a vice such as smoking or gambling) or occupation such as a dentist, lawyer, painter, art critic, etc. Noterman's work shows a growing interest in realism in painting in Belgium.  In particular, his singeries were very popular and between 1863 and 1866 he was commissioned by the publisher Cadart in Paris, to make three original etchings on this subject.
 
His work can be found in several museum collections such as Netherlands Institute of Art History, National Museum of Canada, British Museum, etc.