Maerten Ryckaert

There are two horizontal panel joins. The central panel join is slightly visible to the naked eye and on the verso there are batons that reinforce this join. The second lower panel join is barely visible to the naked eye in the landscape at left. Overall there is excellent retention of paint surface, lovely detail, and coloration. Ultraviolet reveals retouching all along the central panel join and along part of the lower join. There are some very small scattered retouches in the sky and in the water at lower center there is a larger area of retouching. There is another larger area of retouching in the sky at upper right corner. All retouches have been applied well. Painting is quite presentable as is. In a carved and ebony-style wood frame with a gilt inner lining.
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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.

This idyllic panoramic landscape reveals the influence of Paulus Bril on Ryckaert's style, whose work Ryckaert would have seen in Rome during his sojourn in Italy between 1605 and 1610.  The present painting, with its gentle diagonals, low horizon, and subtle rendition of light, echoes Bril's work from his late Roman period when the artist had incorporated the classicizing elements of the landscapes of Annibale Carracci and Adam Elsheimer.  The chalky, hazy blues and brilliant emerald greens that dominate this composition are typical of Ryckaert's palette.  Particularly striking here are the deftly rendered figures, which, as Dr. Luuk Pijl has pointed out, are clearly inspired by those of Sebastien Vrancx.

We are grateful to Drs. Luuk Pijl for endorsing the attribution to Ryckaert on the basis of photographs.