Salomon van Ruysdael

Thomas Schwencke, The Hague;
His sale, The Hague, Rietmulder, 6 October 1767, lot 42;
Hendrik Verschuuring, The Hague;
His sale, The Hague, Rietmulder, 17 September 1770, lot 156;
Albert Levy, London;
His sale, London, Christie's, 3 May 1884, lot 31, to Agnew;
With Thomas Agnew & Sons, London;
Possibly Alfred (Charles) de Rothschild, Austrian, by 1884;
F.C. Stoop, Byfleet, Surrey, 1912, by whom (anonymously) sold, London, Christie's, 12 July 1912, lot 86, to Muller, for 1,365 pounds;
With Frederik Muller, Amsterdam, 1912;
A.W.M. Mensing (d. 1936), Amsterdam, probably from 1912 and upon his death in 1936 held in trust by the Estate until 1938;
Sold by the Estate of A.W.M. Mensing, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 15 November 1938, lot 94, to J. Paul Getty for 5.100 florins;
J. Paul Getty, Sutton Place, Surrey;
Donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1954 (inv. no. 54.PA.4);
Their sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 8 May 2007, lot 53, for €252,000.

Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, Importants Tableaux Anciens, July - Sept 1912, no. 28 (as dated 1652);
The Hague, Het Landschap door Hollanders gezien, 16-20e eeuw, March - April 1922;
Copenhagen, Den Hollandske Udstiling i Kobenhaven, July - August 1922, no. 114 (both the above according to printed labels on the reverse);
The Hague, Pulchri Studio, Tentoonstelling Collectie Goudstikker, 4 -  30 November 1922, p. 21, no. 83;
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Balch Collection and Old Masters from Los Angeles Collections, assembled in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Allan C. Balch, 26 March - 30 April 1944 (lent by Mr. Getty).

W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, Eine Einführung in seine Kunst. Mit kritischem Katalog der Gemälde, Berlin 1938, p. 92, no. 205 (as dated 1660);
K.E. Simon, 'Salomon van Ruysdael, Eine Einführung in seine Kunst. Mit kritischem Katalog der Gemälde, By W. Stechow', review in Burlington Magazine LXXXI, no. 446, May 1940, p. 168 (as dated 1659);
B.B. Fredericksen, Handbook of Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu 1965, p. 11;
B.B. Fredericksen, Catalogue of the Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu 1972, p. 88, no. 116;
W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael. Eine Einführung in seine Kunst. Mit kritischem Katalog der Gemälde, Berlin 1975, second, revised and extended edition, p. 99, no. 205 (as dated 1660);
The J. Paul Getty Museum Guidebook, 4th edition, Malibu 1978, p. 52;
C. Brown, Dutch Landscape. The Early Years, exhibition catalogue, London 1986, p. 158 (as dated 1660);
D. Jaffé, Summary Catalogue of European Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 1997, p. 114, reproduced (as dated 1660).

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar, who is an external expert and not an employee of Sotheby's. UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The canvas has been lined and this is ensuring an even and secure structural support. Paint Surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows a number of retouchings, the most significant of which are: 1) two areas on the right side of the sky which appear to cover vertical tears or fractures in the canvas. These vertical areas measure approximately 15 x 2 cm and 12 x 1 cm and there is a further area running across the shorter of the two lines which is approximately 7 cm in length, 2) an area in the lower right of the sky which is approximately 3 cm in diameter, 3) a number of small retouchings each approximately 1 cm in diameter covering flake losses on the left side of the sky, 4) retouchings along the lower horizontal framing edge and small retouchings in the dark shadows beneath the cattle. There are a number of thin lines and small dots of inpainting across the sky including a thin horizontal line running across the centre of the composition and other scattered retouchings. It should be noted that these retouchings have been carefully and skillfully applied and only a very few can been seen even under the strongest natural light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in reasonably good and stable condition and no further work is required.
"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 panoramic view of Rhenen from the banks of the River Rhine is likely to be at least in part a capriccio, with an imaginary foreground, although topographically accurate views do reveal a sparse upland extending on a gentle rise away to the north. The prominent tower in the centre is that of the Cunerakerk which had been completed in 1531 and which still stands today. The Konigshuis, the group of smaller buildings in front of the Cunerakerk, was constructed in 1630/31 for the Elector Palatine Frederick V, the 'Winter King' of Bohemia, and was demolished in 1812. Other similar views of Rhenen by Ruysdael, from the same angle, are in the London National Gallery and in the Barnes Foundation at Merion, Pennsylvania; a comparison of all three of these views with Pieter Saenredam's drawing of Rhenen of 1644 reveals them all to be inexact in their detail: the tower should be surmounted by a spire on a cupola and the east wall of the palace should be gabled.  

The date has generally been read as 1660 (and also as 1652) but a recent light cleaning has revealed it more likely to read 1659.


Provenance
In 1938 this painting passed from one great collection to another, from that of Anton W.M. Mensing to John Paul Getty. A.W.M. Mensing joined the Dutch auctioneer Frederik Muller & Co in 1885 as an energetic bookbinder and assistant to the then director Frederik Adama roan Scheltema. He became partner of the firm in 1892 and, following the death of Scheltema, expanded the firm with art auctions. This resulted in the first international market for works of art, applied art, and historic scientific instruments in the Netherlands which continued into the 1930s. Mensing amassed an extraordinary collection of old master paintings himself, all of which were sold at Muller in 1938 two years after his death. The most active bidder at the sale was John Paul Getty and a large number of the 112 lots, including the this painting, ended up in the eponymous museum in Los Angeles and, in the case of the most expensive lot in the sale, Rembrandt's Portrait of Martin Looten, in the L.A. County Museum of Art, donated there by Getty in 1953. Mensing had in fact begun by collecting bookbindings and the five hundred unique examples that he amassed were acquired in 1909 by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague, a collection of unique bookbindings made up almost in its entirety of the Mensing donation along with those of Kings Willem I, II, and III.


1. With Nathan, Zurich, 1972; see H.-U. Beck, Jan van Goyen 1596-1656..., vol. II, Katalog der Gemälde, Amsterdam 1973, p. 185, no. 380, reproduced.