- 52
Allaert van Everdingen Alkmaar 1621 - 1675 Amsterdam
Description
- Allaert van Everdingen
- landscape with elegant figures by a river, with boats to the right and a town behind trees beyond
- signed with initials, lower left: AVE
Bears numbering in brown ink, verso: 4:
black chalk and gray wash, within brown ink framing lines
Provenance
Henry Fitzmaurice, Third Marquis of Landsdowne (died 1863), and thereafter by descent, until sold, Amsterdam, Christie's, 22 November 1982, lot 164
Literature
Alice Davies, The Drawings of Allart van Everdingen: A Complete Catalogue, forthcoming, cat. no. 147
Catalogue Note
In this highly atmospheric landscape, the weather is very much in evidence; both the boats on the choppy water and the birds in the sky seem to struggle somewhat against a strong wind. In the Mangin sale (see Provenance), it and another sheet were sold as paired depictions of Summer and Winter, and it is indeed likely that the drawing was made as a representation of one of the seasons from a series of related works, or perhaps one of the months (the number 4 on the verso might in that case signify that this drawing shows the month of April). As Alice Davies has described, Everdingen made at least seven series of the months, and perhaps also others, which are now dispersed (see Alice I. Davies, 'Allaert van Everdingen's Drawings of the Twelve Months', The Register of the Museum of Art, University of Kansas, 4, Kansas 1972, no.9).
The scenes that Everdingen depicted in such series are usually imaginary, although one drawing of this type represents a capriccio view of Amsterdam seen from the IJ (sold, Amsterdam, Christie's, 10 November 1999, lot 363). The present drawing does give the impression of being a real view, but may perhaps also be such a capriccio. If it was indeed made for a series of the months, then the series in question would have been one of Everdingen's more ambitious drawn projects, as the present drawing is twice the size of most of the artist's known drawings made for such series. It is without doubt one of his most complete and accomplished drawings, and this is all the more evident because of its superb state of preservation.