Karel Du Jardin Amsterdam 1626 - 1678 Venice

Gustaf Adolf Sparre (1746-1794);
Sparre inv., 1794, no. 28.

Kristianstad, 1977, no. 10.

Granberg, 1885-6, no. 30;
Göthe, 1895, p. 19, no. 33;
Granberg, 1911-12, vol. 2, no. 154;
C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibandes und Kritisches            Verzeichnis......, vol. IX, Esslingen/Paris 1926, pp. 348-9, no. 205 (as signature not certain);
Hasselgren, 1974, pp. 115, 127, reproduced p. 177;
F. Robinson, Seventeenth Century Dutch Drawings from American Collections, exhibition catalogue, Washington etc., 1977, p. 67, under no. 64;
P. Schatborn, Dutch Figure Drawings from the seventeenth century, exhibition catalogue, The Hague 1981, p. 134, under no. 38;
W.W. Robinson, Seventeenth Century Dutch Drawings.  A Selection from the Maida and George Abrams Collection, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam etc. 1991, p. 164, under no. 73;
J.M. Killian, The Paintings of Karel du Jardin 1626-1678.  Catalogue Raisonné, Amsterdam 2005, p. 229, no. B10, reproduced plate 138, under Problematic Attributions.

"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 fairly old stretcher. There is an original strip apparently added along the top edge, about three or four centimetres wide. The varnish is as recent as the lining but there are a few blanched splashes and various old discoloured retouchings: some darkened retouched little lost flakes in the sky under the bridge and at upper left, with a cluster of larger retouchings in the upper right sky and in the foliage in the upper right corner. These appear like corrosive splashes into the surface of the paint with one wider filling. The lining has secured the surface, which appears to have been quite brittle at some point. There has been some patchy cleaning, and the final glaze on the water on the left is rubbed with some retouchings, the distant hills are rather worn as is the outline of the bridge where there was a pentiment, and there are some other small thin patches: in the side of the horse, the stomach and muzzle of the dog on the right and the black sheep by the feet of the woman and the cliff behind her. However these are fairly minor, when set against the beautifully luminous creamy condition of the greater part of the painting. This is very largely in a rich unworn state, with these occasional incidental flaws, and the distinctive treatment of light and finely focused detail is beautifully preserved. 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."

This picture has been little seen by scholars until very recently.  Hofstede de Groot saw it in the original and considered it to be by Dujardin, although he was not sure about the signature, which is partly concealed by the frame, and followed Granberg's mistranscription of it as Karel de Jardin.  Horst Gerson also thought it to be by Dujardin.  Judging it from an old photograph, Jennifer Kilian listed it under Problematic Attributions in her catalogue raisonné, but on the basis of a transparency, has kindly confirmed that it is in her view an authentic work from the mid-1650s.

Large scale Italianate landscapes on canvas by Dujardin are scarce.  The Sparre picture is notably close in style and handling to another such work, also depicting herders and animals fording a river, in the collection of the Duke of Sutherland at Mertoun in Roxburghshire.¹  The date on the Sutherland picture is given as 1654, but has also been read as1651 & 1657.

Dujardin used a red chalk drawing now in Copenhagen for the figure of a boy facing away from us, wading across the stream and holding his shirt clear of the water (see fig. 1).²  The drawing was presumably made from life, and the model served for three other similar red chalk drawings, in which he is similarly dressed in a jerkin.  The Copenhagen drawing shows him full length, with his legs and feet visible, but Dujardin must have intended him for a painting such as the present one, because the action of raising his shirt only makes sense in this context.


1.  See Kilian under Literature, pp. 141-2, no. 23, reproduced p. 333, plate 20.
2.  Red chalk, 233 by 134 mm.; Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst, inv. no. 9352; see P. Schatborn and both F. and W.W. Robinson under Literature.