Jan Griffier the Elder Amsterdam 1645 (?) - 1718 London

This drawing is comparable in style and technique with a group of six similar landscapes, possibly all from a sketchbook, which were sold, Amsterdam, Sotheby Mak van Waay, 16 November 1981 (lots 212, 217 and 218).  Those drawings were attributed at that time to Anthonie Beerstraaten, while others have also, like the present sheet, been previously given to Gillis Neyts.  It is, however, now generally agreed that all are by Jan Griffier, an attribution that is supported by the fact that at least one of the drawings, the view of Lambeth Palace sold, London, Sotheby's, 18 April 1996 (lot 26), must have been made in England.  Griffier lived and worked in London from shortly after 1666 until 1695, and again from 1705/7 until his death in 1718.  Other examples from the same group are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Rijksprentenkabinet and Berlin.