Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Charleston Wallace;
Acquired by August Neuerburg (died 1944), Hamburg, on the art market in Holland, probably in the late 1920s, and most probably in or shortly before 1928 (Von Bode's certificate is written on the reverse of a photograph taken in Hamburg, where Neuerburg lived);
Thence by descent.

G. Glück, Die Landschaften des Peter Paul Rubens, Vienna 1945, pp. 45-7, 72, no. 39 (as by Rubens);
J. Müller Hofstede, "Zwei Hirtenidyllen des späten Rubens", in Pantheon, XXIV, 1966, pp. 38, 41, notes 29, 20, reproduced fig. 7 (as by Rubens);
W. Stechow, Dutch Landscape Painting, London 1966, p. 221, note 27 (as by Rubens);
W. Adler, Corpus Rubenianum..., Part XVIII, Landscapes and Hunting Scenes, vol. I, Landscapes, Oxford 1982, vol. I, pp. 158-9, no. 51, reproduced plate 134 (as by Rubens, circa 1635);
M. Jaffe, Rubens. Catalogo Completo, Milan 1990, p. 350, no. 1217 (as by Rubens, circa 1635-8);
D. Jaffe, "Rubens back and front.  The case of the National Gallery Samson and Delilah", in Apollo, August 2000, p. 25 (as by Rubens, circa 1638).

The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has an old lining and stretcher, both still secure. There is narrow retouching all down the right edge, with retouching at the top edge mainly towards the top left corner, and a band of retouching down the left edge. The base edge has a few rather wider patches. Beneath the present glossy surface varnish, accreted traces of partially thinned old varnishes can be seen, with scattered little old retouchings in places. The sometimes casual old fashioned treatment of paintings was not systematic leaving parts untouched while elsewhere the paint was rubbed. So that among areas with magnificently flowing rich characteristic brushwork there are patches of wear. One worn area spreads over the shadows under the trees on the right, another is in the upper centre right of the sky, and at upper left the form of the tree has half vanished into a worn haze. Old patches of generalised vague strengthening can be seen in these places. A little square of retouching at the base of the bush and the reflection in the water is visible under ultra violet light, as also is a little row of darkened old retouchings along the blue horizon on the right, with strengthening in the red band of sunset light above, and other little scattered touches. Even though this might suggest that the painting was seriously affected by such wear, in fact it seems curiously to be absorbed and to scarcely distract from its vivid painterly character. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This picture has always been published as a late Rubens landscape, painted circa 1635-8 (see literature), and is so stated to be in certificates of Von Bode and Burchard which will be made available to the purchaser.¹  There are grounds for thinking however that it may be an earlier work, dating from shortly before 1620.

Most of Rubens' landscape oil sketches are on panel or on paper laid down on panel, and date from the 1630s, the period in which he produced the majority of his large-scale landscape paintings.  Most of these are on panel, and a significant proportion of them are on a large scale, their supports having been enlarged by the addition of multiple pieces of wood, with a smaller landscape forming the core of a composition which he added to on some or all sides.  This unusual approach to the creation of a landscape, though characteristic of the last decade of his life, is not restricted to it.  A landscape depicting Summer, with peasants going to market, in the Royal Collection, is on a canvas made of four parts: a large central rectangle, with strips added to both sides and the bottom.²  While the degree of Rubens' authorship has been debated, Christopher White has convincingly argued that the central part is largely, if not entirely, by Rubens, and the added parts, and the large foreground figures that overlap the original rectangle, are more likely to be largely the work of an assistant.³

The Royal Collection painting displays an idiosyncrasy that is found nowhere else in Rubens' oeuvre other than the present oil on canvas sketch.  The tree trunks to the left are strongly lit by the setting sun, and the vertical strip of light thus created runs down to the base of the tree, then curves round and runs laterally along the ground to the right, giving the impression that the tree has grown along the ground for some yards before rearing skywards. The same unusual technique is to be found in the centre left middle-ground of the Royal Collection Summer landscape, where a single brushstroke runs down the tree, thus forming its trunk, and then along the ground.⁴

In general terms the present sketch is painted wholly in Rubens' distinctive landscape style, with a rich use of colour, applied in thick brushstrokes to convey the warm evening light from the setting sun.  Although it is somewhat compromised by wear and tear, its style, use of colour and vivacious brushwork together with the complexity of the construction of the landscape, mean that it is unlikely to be the work of any of Rubens' known landscape followers, such as for example Lucas van Uden.

In private correspondence in 1985 Julius Held speculated that it might be an old copy, but "would not go so far as to exclude firmly Rubens' authorship".⁵  In a subsequent letter, following first-hand inspection, he expressed difficulties in assessing it due to its condition, but stated that he was keeping an open mind about it, remarking that "Rubens' authorship is possible, though not completely compelling". ⁶  He further noted that it is "evidently of some importance that no one seems to have ever seriously doubted the attribution to Rubens". 

1.  Wilhelm von Bode, dated Berlin 22 March 1928, as a Rubens "aus seiner letzten Zeit"; Ludwig Burchard, undated, as a Rubens "aus den letzten und reifsten Jahren des Meisters".  It is unlikely that Adler, M. Jaffe or D. Jaffe ever saw the painting in the original.
2. Inv. RCIN 401416; see C. White, The Later Flemish Pictures in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London 2007, pp. 247-253, no. 58, reproduced.
3. Idem.
4. It would have been extremely helpful to reproduce a detail of the Royal Collection picture to illustrate this crucial point, but we were refused permission to do so, on the grounds that  "the Royal Collection has a strict policy where it does not allow its images to be reproduced in sales catalogues".
5. Letter dated 22 July 1985.
6. Letter dated 10 September, 1985.