Maerten Fransz. van der Hulst

Oil on panel

Possibly Schaffgotsch Collection, Berlin, 1863;
Anonymous sale, Monaco, Christie's, 7 December 1990, lot 311, for FF 1,110,000, as Aelbert Cuyp (where listed as signed on the boat: A. Cuyp) ;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 13 December 1991, lot 5, as van der Hulst, for £30,000, where acquired by the present owners.

G. Parthey, Deuscher Bildersaal, Verzeichnis der in Deutschland verhandenen Ölbilder verstorbener Maler aller Schülen, I, 1863, p. 722, as Aelbert Cuyp;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné, etc., II, 1909, p. 213, no. 714b, as Aelbert Cuyp, signed "A.Cuyp fec." with different measurements (22 by 30 in) and described as 'A flat landscape with a thunderstorm'.

The support consists of two horizontal panels secured by 5 dovetails. The support is flat and stable with the panel join discernible (though not obtrusive) on the recto. The paint surface is clean and secure, with the impasto well preserved, and appears to the naked eye to be in good condition. Inspection under UV lgiht reveals retouchings along the panel join as well as localised areas of retouching in the sky. The lower half of the painting displays retouchings in the darker tones, for example in the shadows to the right of the mill centre right, adn scattered throuhg the darker tones centre left. The retouchings have been sympathetically applied. Offered in a carved and gilt wood frame with some knocks.
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This dramatic and evocative landscape, traditionally attributed to Aelbert Cuyp, and indeed signed A. Cuyp until after it was sold at Christie's, Monaco in 1990 (see Provenance), was reattributed to Maerten Fransz. van der Hulst when sold in 1991. The attribution is due to Alan Chong, the senior specialist on Cuyp currently preparing a catalogue raisonné on the artist, who compares the present work to a signed landscape by van der Hulst discovered by H.U. Beck.¹This picture, along with a group of other landscapes formerly given to Cuyp, joins the group now assigned to van der Hulst. Very little is known about Maerten Fransz. van der Hulst, one of the most distinctive of the van Goyen followers, except that he came from Leiden, had a short career (his dated paintings only known between 1639 to 1646) and that he was strongly influenced by his townsman Jan van Goyen.

The painting is sold with a photocopy of a certificate by Dr. Walther Bernt, dated 24 October 1960, as Aelbert Cuyp.


1.  See H.U. Beck, Jan van Goyen, 1991, vol. 1V, pp.159 - 183 for comparable paintings by the artist.