PIETER MOLIJN | Figures by a wooden bridge over a small stream

D. Vis Blokhuizen, sale, Rotterdam, 23 October 1871, lot 417 (to Linnig);
Dr. August Straeter (1810-1897), Aachen (L.787),
his sale, Stuttgart, Gutekunst, 10 May 1898, lot 1151 (to Mathey);
Louis Deglatigny (1854-1936), Rouen (L.1768a),
his sale, Paris, Féral/Catroux/Huteau, 4 November 1937, lot 275 (as unsigned, and 'attributed to');
purchased at this sale by Frits Lugt (1884-1970), Maartensdijk,
from whom acquired, between 1937 and 1939, by Wilhelm Mertens Jnr.

C. van Hasselt, Dessins des Paysagistes Hollandais du XVII^e Siècle, exhib. cat., Brussels/Rotterdam/Paris/Bern, 1968-69, vol. I, p. 105, under no. 103;
H.-U. Beck, 'Pieter Molyn and his Duplicate Drawings', Master Drawings, vol. XXXV, no. 4 (1997), pp. 365-6, no. 31, fig. 38;
Idem, Pieter Molijn, katalog der Handzeichnungen, Doornspijk 1998, pp. 152-3, no. 306, reproduced

Hinged to mount in the top corners. Very slight thin spots at centre of left edge, and in places along top edge. Very light brown spot in top left corner, and another at centre right edge, but overall condition extremely good and fresh.
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As Carlos van Hasselt so elegantly described in the 1968-69 exhibition catalogue (see Literature), the motif of fishermen and other figures on a high but rickety wooden bridge was very popular in Dutch landscape art of the mid-17th century, no doubt reflecting not only the picturesque appeal of this subject, but also the sheer numbers of such structures to be found in the water-filled landscape of the Netherlands.  In this confidently executed and beautifully preserved drawing, Molijn provides a definitive rendition of this motif, and also a particularly fine example of his drawing style. Although it is not clear where the motif originates, it can already be found in the 1610s and ‘20s, in drawings and prints by Jan and Esaias van de Velde, such as the latter’s etching, Farm beyond a Canal.¹  By the years around 1650, such bridges were appearing regularly in prints, drawings and paintings by all the leading artists whose works depict the native Dutch landscape.  Two particularly relevant examples are the only true landscape etching by Adriaen van Ostade (The Anglers (B.26), circa 1647-53), and a fine 1651 drawing by Jan van Goyen, in Groningen, which depicts a very similar bridge to the one seen here, though in a more open setting.²  In 1655, one year before he made the present drawing, Molijn himself made another, now in the Lugt Collection, showing a very similar bridge.³  That drawing corresponds closely to a painting by the artist now in Riga, while the present composition is closer to another painting, in Florence.⁴

A copy after this drawing is in the Biblioteca Reale, Turin.<sup>5 

1.</sup>  G.S. Keyes, Esaias van den Velde, Doornspijk 1984, cat. E 16, figs 58-9
^2.  Groninger Museum, inv 1931-163; H.-U. Beck, Jan van Goyen 1596-1656, I, Amsterdam 1972, no. 237
^3.  Beck, op. cit. 1998, no. 292
^4.  Florence, Palazzo Pitti, inv. 50.164; M. Chiarini, Gallerie e Musei Statali di Firenze. I Dipinti Olandesi del Seicento e del Settecento, Rome 1989, pp. 338-9
^5.  Inv. 16608; Beck op. cit., 1997, under no. 31, reproduced fig. 39