Roelandt Savery Kortrijk 1576 - 1639 Utrecht

Anonymous sale ("La Succession de Madame X"), Paris, Piasa, 24 June 1998, lot 5, for FF1,000,000.

The background landscape in the catalogue illustration is too bright. The support consists of a single panel, which has suffered a clean horizontal split through the centre, beginning at the right margin and continuing for the majority of the panel's width; the split is now repaired and stable. The panel is bevelled along all four edges and uncradled; at the right the split is supported by two small wooden bars. The painting is in very good condition overall and the paint surface extremely well preserved. There is an area of small restored losses in the extreme lower right corner and two small restored losses on the upper centre margin. The right hand section of the panel split has undergone some old retouching. Inspection under ultra-violet light reveals several spot retouchings in the sky, a few retocuhings to the landscape centre left and a few further minor spot retocuhings throughout. The varnish layer is clear and even. This painting is in very good condition in general. Sold with a modern frame decorated with false-tortoiseshell, in good condition. AF*
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Savery's fascination with nature and, especially, with wild animals, seems to stem from his long stay at the court of Rudolph II in Prague from c.1604-1613. Rudolph amassed the greatest cabinet of curiosities, or Kunst-und Wunderkammer, of the day and, in order to enrich it further and to satisfy his lust for 'wondrous' things he sent Savery off to the Tyrol in 1606-07 with the express purpose of drawing 'wonders'. He brought back numerous sketches and finished drawings of waterfalls, rivers and jagged mountain peaks. Back at court Rudolph's great menagerie and grounds provided endless inspiration for Savery's acute drawings of the animal kingdom. The chalk studies of individual animals that he made there provided the ingredients for his later Paradise landscapes like the present work. The meticulously rendered animals and plants, trees and ferns, and the jewel-like, glowing backgrounds that characterise these landscapes are inconceivable without his stay at Rudolph's court.   

Savery returned to Amsterdam in 1613 and then moved to Utrecht in 1619 with his nephew Hans Savery II. In Amsterdam he began combining exotic landscapes with biblical or mythological subjects. He continued this theme until at least 1627 when the present work was executed; here the principal subject matter is offset by the conversion of St. Hubert in the left middle distance; St. Hubert is depicted kneeling before the white stag which carries the crucifix in his antlers and which is the cause of his conversion to Christianity. Savery died in 1639 but he painted only very infrequently after 1630. His legacy lived on in the work of Hans Savery II, his only pupil, but further afield Gillis Claesz. de Hondecoeter made a career from adapting Savery's compositions and borrowing his motifs (see previous lot).