Pieter Molijn

Hilly landscape with figures crossing a stone arch bridge

Auction Closed

January 25, 04:44 PM GMT

Estimate

12,000 - 18,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

From the collection of Seymour and Zoya Slive

Pieter Molijn

London 1595 - 1661 Haarlem

Hilly landscape with figures crossing a stone arch bridge

Black chalk with gray and brown wash;

signed and dated in black chalk, upper left: P / Molyn / 1659

187 by 300 mm; 7⅜ by 11¾ in.

The Art Trade, Paris, 1949;
Seymour and Zoya Slive, Cambridge, MA

Chicago, The David and Alfred Smart Gallery, The University of Chicago, Alumni who Collect I, Drawings from the 16th Century to the Present, 1982, no. 78

H.-U. Beck, Pieter Molyn 1595 - 1661, Katalog der Handzeichnungen, Doornspijk 1998, p. 108, no. 179, reproduced

This beautifully preserved drawing is an excellent example of Molijn's assured draughtsmanship of the 1650s. His mastery of black chalk allows him to create the perfect balance of light and shade, creating believable winding landscapes that he enlivens with pockets of daily life, as seen here with his inclusions of figures walking up hill to the center of the composition.

The 1650s were Molijn's most prolific and inventive period, when he produced a large number of very complete atmospheric drawings such as this, representing mountain, river and dune landscapes, winter scenes, peasant markets and other subjects with great liveliness and variety. Most of these drawings are, however, roughly half the size of this sheet, and worked up only in gray wash. Only relatively few landscapes by the artist on this scale, worked up in brown as well as gray wash, are known, and they include some of Molijn's most attractive and original drawings.