Jan Both Utrecht circa 1618 - 1652

Francis Charles Needham, 3rd Earl of Kilmorey (1842-1915), by 1882;
Thence by descent to Francis Charles Adelbert Henry Needham, 4th Earl of Kilmorey (1883-1961);
His sale, London, Christie's, 5 December 1941, lot 120, as by 'Jan and Andries Both', to A.H. Sand, London;
Private Collection, Ireland;
With Richard Green, London;
From whom acquired for the present collection.

London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, 1882, no. 82 (where lent by the Earl of Kilmorey).

A. Graves, A Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912, vol. I, London 1913, p. 86;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. IX, London 1926, p. 489, no. 241.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has a recent lining and stretcher, although there have not been any significant accidental damages. There is a fine even craquelure, which has been slightly muted in the sky in a fairly recent restoration, without being particularly noticeable. There is one small slanting scratch by the upper right horizon, and a few other tiny touches in the lower centre left of the sky, with some other small touches in the top right corner and upper right sky. The base edge has a certain amount of minor little retouching with one or two other touches by the lower right edge. Overall the landscape is beautifully preserved, as is the sky; with the play of light, across the distant campagna and through the varied foreground, beautifully intact. There has been less cleaning, rather wisely, in the foreground with a film of older varnish remaining and rich unworn glazes in the shadows. The glazing of the sunset light in the sky is also finely intact, although there is some slight thinness as so often in the foliage of the trees against the sky. The trunks of the trees are also rather thin where there are pentimenti, with one or two small retouchings. The light coming over the horizon beyond the trees to the left is finely preserved catching the grasses in scumbled brushstrokes, and then in more liquid touches on the leaves above the water. Essentially the general condition is extremely good. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Both's pastoral landscapes, drenched in a warm italianate light and depicting the peaceful leisuretime of peasant herdsmen, are inconceivable without the influence of Claude Lorrain whom the artist met in Rome as a young man of about twenty in circa 1637. Both went to Rome to join his brother Andries, but soon after his arrival he was propelled into the spotlight when he collaborated with Claude on two large series of landscapes for the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid, commissioned by Don Manuel de Moura, Marqués de Castel Rodrigo and ambassador to Philip IV, the first from 1638-39 and the second from 1640-41. Jan and Andries left Rome in 1641, travelling via Venice where Andries tragically drowned in a canal. Jan is believed to have returned home alone to Utrecht in the same year.

This work is typical of Both's landscapes of the mid-1640s and almost certainly represents a view in the Apennines. Like most of his output after his return, the view depicted is unidentified but is probably based on one of the many drawings he made during his sojourn in Italy. The figures are painted by Both himself and the peasant resting beneath the tree, dressed in a red smock and sheepskin waistcoat, recurs throughout his oeuvre; see, for example, his evening landscape sold London, Christie's, 7 July 2000, lot 17. Both however sometimes collaborated with specialist figure painters and in a secondary, unsigned, version of this composition, of approximately the same dimensions and formerly in the collection of the Earl and Countess of Swinton, the figures (two female bathers) are by Cornelis van Poelenburgh.¹

Provenance: In his 1926 publication, Hofstede de Groot (see Literature) lists this painting as in the collection of G.H. Tite, London. However, the painting was certainly in the collection of the Earls of Kilmorey from at least 1882 until 1941. In the 1941 Kilmorey sale, however, the painting was bought by A.H. Sand. G.H. Tite was possibly the owner before it entered the Kilmorey collection.

1  Sold London, Christie's, 9 July 1999, lot 32.