Allaert van Everdingen

Jacob van Rijk, Amsterdam;
sold by him in 1694 to Sybrand I Feitama (1620-1701), Amsterdam;
Isaac Feitama (1666-1709), Amsterdam;
Sybrand II Feitama (1694-1758), Amsterdam,
his sale, Amsterdam, de Bosch, 16 October 1758, lot O.18 (as part of a set of the twelve months, lots O.11-22, later dispersed, f.155, to Yver);
possibily Nicolaes Tjark;
probably sold by him, Amsterdam, de Leth, 10 November 1762, p. 24, under nos. 15-26 (12 months, f. 200, to Fouquet);
Henry Oppenheimer, London, his sale, London, Christie's, 13 July 1936, in lot 243 (four landscapes, this one "C");
Ernst Goldschmidt, Brussels, 1936;
by descent, until sold Paris, Ader Tajan, 28 October 1994, lot 14 (to Peck);
Sheldon and Leena Peck, Boston

Feitama NdT 469 (as part of series of the months, NdT 462-473);
Broos 1985, pp. 118, 128-29, no. 66;
Broos 1987, pp. 191-92, 202, note 153, 206, nos. 462-73;
A. I. Davies, The Drawings of Allart van Everdingen, Doornspijk 2007, pp. 102-3, 373, no. 546, reproduced

Fixed to japan paper backing, and sandwich mounted, so reverse not visible. Lightly foxed throughout. Otherwise good.
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Everdingen was a rather prolific draughtsman -- Alice Davies' new catalogue raisonné lists some 650 drawings -- and he also appears to have had a particular fondness for making sets of drawings depicting, with appropriate images and activities, the months of the year.¹  This tradition had its origins in medieval manuscript illumination, but became increasingly popular in the context of paintings, drawings and prints in the 16th century.  During the 1550s and '60s, Pieter Bruegel the Elder made his famous series of paintings and print designs with seasonal subjects, and in 1580-81 Hans Bol executed the wonderful set of twelve circular drawings of the months, formerly in the Koenigs Collection, now in Rotterdam.²

In the 17th century, the popularity of such themed sets of images waned rather, and Everdingen's devotion to the concept was unusual.  Remarkably, he seems to have made at least eleven sets of drawings of the months, not, as one might have imagined, as designs for prints, but simply as artistic creations in their own right.  Six of these sets remain intact, while the others have been reconstructed by Alice Davies, on the basis of their stylistic and physical characteristics, and clues from the early provenance of the drawings.

The present drawing originates from a dispersed series known as the "Zodiac set", on account of the astrological sign that the artist placed in the sky in each composition -- a device familiar from earlier prints, but by this time rather rare.  Ten of the twelve drawings from this set are known today, or have been recorded in relatively recent times: five are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, two in the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, and two are currently untraced. As Davies noted, the other known drawings from the series are all somewhat broader than this, with the sign of the Zodiac in the centre of the sky, suggesting that the present drawing may as some point have been cut on the left.  The distinctive orange-brown wash seen here is not present in all the other drawings, but is found in both April (Cambridge) and November (Rotterdam). 

1.  Davies, op. cit., pp. 97-109

2.  Sold, New York, Sotheby's, 23 January 2001, lot 11