Jan Siberechts Antwerp 1627 - circa 1703 London

Possibly Lord Temple, Eastbury Park, Dorset;
Possibly Thomas Wedgewood, Eastbury Park, before 1806;
Possibly acquired by James John Farquharson who purchased Eastbury Park and the paintings in 1806;
Thence by descent to Peter Lionel Farquharson;
His sale, London, Sotheby's, June 21, 1961, lot 19 (as signed and dated 1695), where purchased by J. Paul Getty;
J. Paul Getty, Malibu California; Sutton Place, Surrey and donated by his estate to the J. Paul Getty Museum, California, in 1978, no. 78.PA.224.

D. Jaffé, Summary Catalogue of European Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 1997, p. 117, reproduced (as Jan Siberechts).

This is an autograph version of a composition that was obviously extremely popular with Siberecht's clients; there are two other versions, one formerly in the Henle Collection that sold London, Sotheby's, December 3, 1997, lot 8, and the other in the Warde Collection, Squerreys Court, Kent¹.  These paintings are dated 1671 and 1674 respectively; the present work almost certainly dates from circa 1674, when Siberechts was in England and thus, up until 1978 when it moved to the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, this painting probably spent its entire life in England.

On its completion in 1738 to Vanbrugh's design, Eastbury Park (see Provenance) was third in size in England only to Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. By 1763 however, the 2nd Earl Temple had half of the house pulled down as he could not afford its upkeep. The estate was purchased by Thomas Wedgewood in 1800 and he lived there until 1805, before leasing it for a year and then selling to James John Farquharson. It is not known if this painting was in the collection at Eastbury Park when the estate and its contents were acquired by  Farquharson in 1806, or whether he or one of his descendants purchased the painting for the house at a later date. Most likely it was purchased in 1806 along with the house.

1  see T.H. Fokker, Jan Siberechts, Brussels/Paris 1931, reproduced plate 33.