Gillis Peeters I Antwerp bapt 1612 - 1653

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Description

Gillis Peeters the Elder
An Estuary scene, with rowing boats and small sailing boats before a fortified house
signed lower right: G.Peeters.
oil on canvas

Provenance

The Most Hon. the Marquis of Waterford;
His sale et al., London, Sotheby's, 8 December 1971, lot 22, when acquired by the late owner.

Literature

E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des Peintres..., vol. X, Paris 1999, p. 686, under Gillis Peeters I, Ventes Publiques.

Catalogue Note

This ranks among the largest and most ambitious marines paintings by Gillis Peeters. A member of a Flemish family of marine and landscape painters, Gillis became a master of the Antwerp guild of St Luke in 1634 along with his brother Bonaventura, with whom he is known to have shared a studio in Antwerp. His oeuvre consists chiefly of landscapes, many of which reveal a debt to the work of Paul Bril, although he is perhaps best known for a small group of works depicting the coastline of Brazil, where he is believed to have travelled around 1637.

The present painting is one of a small number of marines produced by the artist, which are characterised by a greater refinement than found in the work of his brother Bonaventura Peeters. Although some of his earlier pictures are influenced by Andries van Eertvelt, the present work has moved beyond the mannerist tradition and is therefore likely to date to the latter part of the artist's career, during the 1640s or early 1650s.