Flora and Zephyr

This oil sketch is a modello for the ceiling canvas that the painter completed in 1744 for the grand canal house of Gerrit Hooft (1708-1780) in Amsterdam. Hooft was a wealthy merchant and eight-time burgomaster between 1766 and 1779. De Wit's decoration of the ceiling in the main reception room consisted of seven canvases in wood moldings; the large Flora and Zephyr was surrounded by monochrome compositions painted in imitation of stucco relief.