Jan van Goyen, Landscape with an Old Castle and a Tower
Jan van Goyen
1596 Leiden - 1656 The Hague
Landscape with an Old Castle and a Tower
Oil on panel. Diameter 33.5 cm.
Signed and dated lower centre: I V Goyen [...] 24. Provenance
Auctioned by F. Muller, Amsterdam, 28.11.1911, lot 23. - Auctioned by F. Muller, Amsterdam, 28.11.1916, lot 44 (for 1.400 fl. to Jacques Goudstikker). – Galerie Goudstikker, Amsterdam. – Collection of P. Smidt van Gelder, Nieuwsluis. – Private collection, Vienna 1986. – Private collection, Zurich. - David Koetser Gallery, Zurich, 2001. – German private collection. Literature
Cornelis Hofstede de Groot: Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, vol. 8. Esslingen und Paris 1923, p. 85, no. 348. – Hans-Ulrich Beck: Jan van Goyen 1596-1656. Ein Oeuvreverzeichnis, vol. 2, Amsterdam 1973, p. 55, no. 105a. - Hans-Ulrich Beck: Jan van Goyen 1596-1656. Ein Oeuvreverzeichnis, vol. 3, Doornspijk 1987, p. 150, no. 105a (illus.).
This round panel depicts a landscape dominated by vivid green and brown tones. The cloudy sky occupies around one half of the panel, whilst a tall tree in the centre divides the work vertically into two almost equal parts. A river flanked by old buildings runs diagonally through the landscape, which is enlivened by no fewer than 17 figures, some of whom are placed in boats and others on the riverbanks or the path leading across the lower edge of the image. Particularly prominent among them are the opulently dressed horseman and the horse drawn carriage, presumably transporting additional figures.
The indistinct date [16]24 would place the present work in Jan van Goyen's early oeuvre. Van Goyen was one of the most important and innovative landscape painters of the Dutch Golden Age. Following several short apprenticeships with various little-known masters, he began a two year apprenticeship with the equally unknown Willem Gerritsz in Hoorn, after which he spent a year in France. Upon his return he joined the studio of Esaias van de Velde in Haarlem, which had a profound influence on his style in the first half of the 1620s. During this time he painted many small landscape works, often in pairs, depicting village scenes in summer and in winter, to which the present work can be grouped. Two works of identical size to the present panel and in the same round form depicting a summer and a winter scene dated to 1625, one year after the present work, can be found in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. (inv. no. 991-A5 and 991-A6). A short time later in around 1627/28, van Goyen turned away from van de Velde's influence to develop the monochrome landscape into a diagonal composition with a low horizon, together with Salomon van Ruysdael and Pieter de Molijn. The present work is an important example of Jan van Goyen's earlier works.
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Jan van Goyen
1596 Leiden - 1656 The Hague
Landscape with an Old Castle and a Tower
Oil on panel. Diameter 33.5 cm.
Signed and dated lower centre: I V Goyen [...] 24. Provenance
Auctioned by F. Muller, Amsterdam, 28.11.1911, lot 23. - Auctioned by F. Muller, Amsterdam, 28.11.1916, lot 44 (for 1.400 fl. to Jacques Goudstikker). – Galerie Goudstikker, Amsterdam. – Collection of P. Smidt van Gelder, Nieuwsluis. – Private collection, Vienna 1986. – Private collection, Zurich. - David Koetser Gallery, Zurich, 2001. – German private collection. Literature
Cornelis Hofstede de Groot: Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, vol. 8. Esslingen und Paris 1923, p. 85, no. 348. – Hans-Ulrich Beck: Jan van Goyen 1596-1656. Ein Oeuvreverzeichnis, vol. 2, Amsterdam 1973, p. 55, no. 105a. - Hans-Ulrich Beck: Jan van Goyen 1596-1656. Ein Oeuvreverzeichnis, vol. 3, Doornspijk 1987, p. 150, no. 105a (illus.).
This round panel depicts a landscape dominated by vivid green and brown tones. The cloudy sky occupies around one half of the panel, whilst a tall tree in the centre divides the work vertically into two almost equal parts. A river flanked by old buildings runs diagonally through the landscape, which is enlivened by no fewer than 17 figures, some of whom are placed in boats and others on the riverbanks or the path leading across the lower edge of the image. Particularly prominent among them are the opulently dressed horseman and the horse drawn carriage, presumably transporting additional figures.
The indistinct date [16]24 would place the present work in Jan van Goyen's early oeuvre. Van Goyen was one of the most important and innovative landscape painters of the Dutch Golden Age. Following several short apprenticeships with various little-known masters, he began a two year apprenticeship with the equally unknown Willem Gerritsz in Hoorn, after which he spent a year in France. Upon his return he joined the studio of Esaias van de Velde in Haarlem, which had a profound influence on his style in the first half of the 1620s. During this time he painted many small landscape works, often in pairs, depicting village scenes in summer and in winter, to which the present work can be grouped. Two works of identical size to the present panel and in the same round form depicting a summer and a winter scene dated to 1625, one year after the present work, can be found in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. (inv. no. 991-A5 and 991-A6). A short time later in around 1627/28, van Goyen turned away from van de Velde's influence to develop the monochrome landscape into a diagonal composition with a low horizon, together with Salomon van Ruysdael and Pieter de Molijn. The present work is an important example of Jan van Goyen's earlier works.
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