* Gillis Claesz. de Hondecoeter Antwerp 1575/80 - 1638 Amsterdam

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Description

Gillis Claesz. de Hondecoeter
A Mountainous Landscape with a Rocky Outcrop by the edge of a Wood, Goats and a Reindeer Resting by a Waterfall, a Village in an Extensive Landscape Beyond
signed with initials and dated GDH/A 1619 (DH linked)
oil on panel

Provenance

With G. Cramer, The Hague, by 1967;
There purchased by the family of the present owner.

Literature

J.Briels, Vlaamse Schilders in de Noordeljke Nederlanden in het begin van de Gouden Eeuw, 1987, p.336, illustrated p.338, fig.428.

Catalogue Note

A label on the reverse reads DELNI URAD PRAHA 20 (Office of Works, Prague) and bears the bears the insigna of the Rampant Lion of Czechoslovakia.

Gillis Claesz. De Hondecoeter hailed from a family of artists. His father, Nicolaes, is recorded as a painter in Antwerp but no works by him are known. Gillis' grandson, Melchior continued the family tradition of painting and gained much fame for his elegant pictures that included wild birds.

Gillis most probably trained with his father before moving to Amsterdam where he would eventually become the head of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1636. Like many artists, Hondecoeter was influenced by his contemporaries as well as his predecessors. The present composition, for example, dates to a period in Hondecoeter’s career when the influence of Gillis van Coninxloo and Roeland Savery is evident. Here, Hondecoeter has presented the viewer with a rocky outcropping, dotted with wild animals while also incorporating a lovely and far-reaching view of the valley below.