HERMAN VAN SWANEVELT | ITALIAN RIVER LANDSCAPE WITH HERDERS AND THEIR CATTLE

With Bruno Meissner, Zürich, 1971;

With Brian Koetser, London, 1971;

With Galerie Kurt J. Müllenmeister, Solingen, by 1973;

From whom acquired in 1974.

London, Brian Koetser, Spring exhibition of paintings by old masters, 5 April – June 1971, no. 29;

Solingen, Galerie Müllenmeister, Gemälde und Zeichnungen alter Meister, Collection ‘73/‘74, 1973 – 1974, no. 19;

Rotterdam, Kunsthal, At Home in the Golden Age, 9 February – 18 May 2008, no. 98.

The SØR Rusche Collection has been exhibited extensively over the last two decades. Please click here for further information.

K.J. Müllenmeister, Meer und Land im Licht des 17. Jahrhunderts. Tierdarstellungen in Werken niederländischer Künstler, vol. III, Bremen 1981, p. 73, cat. no. 446, reproduced;

H.-J. Raupp (ed.), Niederländische Malerei des. 17. Jahrhunderts der SØR Rusche-Sammlung, vol. 3, Landschaften und Seestücke, Münster/Hamburg/London 2001, pp. 268-71, cat. no. 71, reproduced in colour;

W. Pijbes, M. Aarts, M. J. Bok et al., At Home in the Golden Age, exh. cat., Zwolle 2008, p. 101, cat. no. 98, reproduced in colour;

A.C. Steland, Herman van Swanevelt (um 1603–1655). Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Petersberg 2010, text vol., pp. 209–10, cat. nos. G3, 39, reproduced plates vol. p. 517, fig. G238.

Herman van Swanevelt was a Dutch painter who worked in Rome and Paris and may be seen to have acted as one of the most important links between the first generation of Dutch Italianate artists in Rome, such as Poelenburgh and Breenbergh, and the following generation, such as Both and Berchem.

This landscape is particularly reminiscent of the work of Claude Lorrain, whose style developed in tandem with Swanevelt's in Rome during the 1630s. While in 'The Eternal City' Swanevelt executed several important commissions, including paintings for the Barberini family and the Vatican.

In this relatively small copper plate, upon which the bright palette remains vibrant, Swanevelt has depicted a quiet but nevertheless monumental landscape, which recedes to the blue mountains in the distance.