Jan Both

Major J.C.T. Mills, Norfolk, by 1964;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, December 13, 1985, lot 70;
Private collection, New York.

Norwich, Norwich Castle Museum, Fine Paintings from East Anglia, 1964, no. 5;
Birmingham, Alabama, Birmingham Museum of Art, The Golden Age of Dutch Painting, 1995, no. 2;
New Orleans, New Orleans Museum of Art, In the Eye of the Beholder:  Northern Paintings from the Collection of Henry H. Weldon, 1997, no. 6;
Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, An Eye for Detail:  17th -Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings from the Collection of Henry H. Weldon, June 20-September 5, 1999, no. 6. 

N.T. Minty, In the Eye of the Beholder:  Northern Paintings from the Collection of Henry H. Weldon, exhibition catalogue, New Orleans Museum of Art 1997, p. 15, no. 2, reproduced;
N.T. Minty and J. Spicer, An Eye for Detail:  17th -Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings from the Collection of Henry H. Weldon, exhibition catalogue, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore 1999, pp. 15-6, no. 6, reproduced.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is in what appears to be very good condition. The canvas has been lined using glue as an adhesive. There are no retouches visible under ultraviolet light and while there may be some beneath an old varnish, this is unlikely. Slight loss of depth has occurred in the tree in the center left and the figures beneath the tree have lost a little definition. If the picture were to be cleaned, it is unlikely that any restorations would be removed but one would have a chance to acquire some depth and sharpness in the darker areas in the lower portion of the picture. Overall the condition seems to be very good.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The Italianate Landscape with a Mountain Path and a Ford is an exemplar of Both's mature style, first evidenced on his return to Utrecht from Rome in 1642.  The scene is a mountain landscape, unidentified but suggestive of the countryside around Rome. It is structured by a pair of strong diagonals:  one following the line of trees up from the lower left and the moving up along the road from the lower right until it reaches the central tree.  Rising up from the shadows of the river bed into the brightness of the foreground road is the extraordinary vision of a man carrying a woman on his back.  The sunlight just catches the edge of her blouse and her scarf so they shine brilliantly against the dark background. 

While this was a very practical way to carry someone across a stream, the motif was also part of the Italian repertory.  It is the pose, though in reverse, of Aeneas carrying his father Anchises from the buring city of Troy, from Raphael's fresco of The Fire in the Borgo in the Stanza dell'Incendio in Rome, which Both could have seen himself or known through contemporary engravings.  The figures, however, are purely northern in character.  Their blunt features and heavy bodies derive from the works of Peter van Laer, who Both had known and worked with during his stay in Rome¹. 

This paintinghas been dated to circa 1645-50 on the basis of comparison to another version of the same subject in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.²  The two works are extremely close. The main differences are in the distant landscape:  the small castle in the center is absent from the Stockholm painting and the forms of the mountains at the left have been changed. Also, the focus on the man carrying the woman is not as strong, for Both has used a more diffuse light, rather than the dramatic contrast of the present work.  Both used the motif of the ford again in a composition also known in two versions, one in Munich and the other in Detroit.  There, however, the figures do not rise up toward us, but are shown in profile, moving to the right. 

While Both was greatly influenced by Claude in the way he composed and lit his paintings, the Italianate Landscape with a Ford is utterly his own.  He is the only artist whose light is both golden and crystalline, so that all the leaves on the trees, the pebbles on the road and the figures themselves are shown with warmth and remarkable clarity.  He sprinkles the dense foliage with flicks of yellow and cream paint that catch our eye and enliven the composition.

1  Some of the staffage in Both's paintings have been attributed to Van Laer,  Poelenbergh or Berchem, but modern commentators agree that here the figures are by Both himself.  See N.T. Minty, 1997, p. 15, no. 2 and 1999, p. 16, no. 6.
2  Minty, Loc. cit., the Stockholm painting is recorded in J.D. Burke, Jan Both: Paintings, Drawings and Prints, New York and London 1976, pp. 245-46, no. 108, where he dates it to circa 1645-50.  He was apparently unaware of the present picture.