Lot 121: AELBERT CUYP DORDRECHT 1620 - 1691

Description

THE PROPERTY OF FRENCH AND COMPANY

SHEPHERDS WITH SHEEP NEAR FARM BUILDINGS

measurements note
18 1/2 by 29 in.; 47.5 by 72.5 cm.

signed lower left A cuÿp

oil on panel

PROVENANCE

Dr. Rothman, by 1947;
With Thos. Agnew and Sons, London (inv. 9585);
By whom sold to Nathan Katz, Dieren, for £1100;
Wingfield Collection, Devon;
Their sale, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, December 7, 1950, lot 18;
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, July 2, 1986, lot 151;
French and Company, New York.

LITERATURE

A. Chong, "New Dated Works from Aelbert Cuyp's Early Career", in The Burlington Magazine, September 1991, pp. 606 - 612, reproduced fig. 48.

NOTE

This picture is a very good example of tonal painting by Aelbert Cuyp, one of the leading masters of 17^th century Dutch landscape painting. The low horizon line, subtle palette and emphasis on conveying the atmospheric and climactic conditions of the region are among the most important characteristics of this style, and beautifully exemplified in this composition. The picture belongs to a small group of seven paintings by Cuyp all dateable to the early 1640s. The present work relates most closely to a farm scene in the Bode Museum, Berlin. There is also a preparatory drawing that is a sketch of the same view that was in the Oskar Huldschinsky sale, Berlin, Graupe, November 3, 1931, lot 28. As is often the case with Cuyp, the scene is enlivened by the presence of two shepherds watching over their flocks. The church in the distance resembles Dordrecht's Grote Kerk seen from the southeast. The small scale church and windmill in the background further stress the sense of scale within the composition, as well as the surrounding dampness. The present painting will be included in Alan Chong's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Cuyp's work.