Adam Pynacker

Though not known to Laurie B. Harwood at the time of writing her monograph on Adam Pynacker in 1988, she has since endorsed the attribution to Pynacker on the basis of first-hand inspection. Dr. Harwood dates the picture to the mid-1650s.

According to the biographer Arnold Houbraken Pynacker spent three years in Italy, probably between 1645 and 1648; a theory further supported by the fact that he is not recorded in the Netherlands during that time. No documents have been found to substantiate such a trip but Pynacker's paintings from the late 1640s and '50s reveal what must surely be first-hand knowledge of the landscapes and topographical features of southern Europe. Pynacker was one of the most significant painters of the second generation of 'Dutch italianates', whose works were heavily influenced by the schildersbent; Herman van Swanevelt, Jan Both and Jan Asselijn amongst them. Pynacker's earliest dated work is from 1650 and the paintings from around this time reveal the marked influence of Jan Both; in composition, subject-matter and use of light. The contrejour light effects and delicate highlights on the boat in the foreground are specific instances of Pynacker's debt to Both and can be found in other pictures by the artist: see, for example, Pynacker's small signed panel in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg (inv. 1093) (see L.B. Harwood, in Inspired by Italy. Dutch landscape painting 1600-1700, exhibition catalogue, Dulwich, Dulwich Picture Gallery, 22 May - 26 August 2002, pp. 168-9, cat. no. 42, reproduced in colour), or his Riverscape with boats of circa 1650-53 in the Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna (see L.B. Harwood, Adam Pynacker (c.1620-1673), Doornspijk 1988, cat. no. 18, reproduced in colour plate IV). The broken bridge in the background is inspired by the Ponte Rotto in Rome but would appear to be a capriccio, as is the town beside it.