Jan van Goyen

(Leiden 1596–1676 The Hague)
A river landscape with a ferry boat and a castle by a town beyond,
signed with monogram and dated lower right (on the ferryboat): VG 16(4)5,
oil on panel, 45 x 60 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, France (until 2009);
sale, Koller, Zurich, 25 March 2009, lot 6407 (as Circle of Jan van Goyen);
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Christian Vogelaar for confirming the attribution of the present painting after inspection of the original. He writes: ‘The fluid “wet in wet” execution, the “alla prima” technique with an extremely thin opaque paint layer over the wooden underground and the monochrome palette of brown, green and grey colours are typical of the master in the 1640’s …’ In the 1640s the painter developed a composition scheme of a diagonal river with in the foreground a repoussoir group of figures, some cattle and a boat, and a view on cities or buildings on the opposite bank that soon became a standard in painting. Christian Vogelaar organized a Van Goyen loan exhibition at the Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden.