Aelbert Cuyp

Walter Fawkes (1769-1825), Farnley Hall, Yorkshire, by 1822;
By descent to the Rev. Ayscough Fawkes (c. 1806-1871), Farnley Hall, Yorkshire;
Sold by his estate, London, Christie's, 28 June 1890, lot 79;
With Thos. Agnew & Sons, London;
Edward C. Guinness, 1^st Earl of Iveagh (1847-1927), Dublin/London;
By descent to Lady Brigid Guinness (1920-1995);
Galerie Sanct Lucas, 2000.

London, Royal Academy, unidentified exhibition, probably 1922, no. 32 (according to information given by the 2001-2002 exhibition catalogue);
Washington, National Gallery of Art; London, National Gallery; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Aelbert Cuyp 1620 - 1691, 7 October 2001 – 1 September 2002, no. 17. ¹

J.P. Neale, Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, London 1822, vol. V, under cat. no. 37 (as 'a small landscape - Cuyp');
Aelbert Cuyp 1620-1691, 2002, pp. 126, cat. no. 17, reproduced p. 127, and p. 194 (catalogue edited by Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr.).

The following condition report has been provided by Karen Thomas of Thomas Art Conservation LLC., 336 West 37th Street, Suite 830, New York, NY 10018, 212-564-4024, info@thomasartconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This picture is in pristine condition, free of noticeable flaws or damages. A few minimal touches of restoration glazes address tiny drying cracks and wood grain showing through the paint in the haunches and mane of the white horse and the face of the left figure. Note the bird formation crossing the sky on the right: these small, vulnerable touches of paint can easily become worn or damaged by cleaning but are nicely preserved in this painting. A few minor losses of paint along the top edge have been restored. The varnish is even and adequately saturates the paint. The horizontally-grained wood panel support is planar and retains its original thickness and beveled edges on the reverse.
"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 wonderful and luminous panoramic view by the Dordrecht artist Aelbert Cuyp depicts one of the most famous and historic vistas of The Netherlands.  Already a tourist attraction in the 17^th century, the so-called Koningstafel (or “King’s Table”), is located on the southwesterly end of a defensive fortification on the Heimenberg plateau near the town of Rhenen.  The view, looking southeast toward the city of Nijmegen, depicts the town of Opheusden, across the peacefully flowing Lower Rhine river, with some of its smaller streams and lakes in its low-lying plain in the foreground. Beyond the river’s bank, in the center, one can see the church tower of Opheusden.

The history of the Koningstafel is firmly tied with Holland’s central role in European politics in the 17^th Century.  Frederick V (1596-1632), Elector Palatine and deposed King of Bohemia (hence his romantic sobriquet, “the Winter King”), took refuge in The Netherlands after his defeat at the Battle of the White Mountain.  Basing his government in exile at The Hague, he had his summer palace built in Rhenen, where a large part of his art collection, at times open to the general public, was housed. Frederick apparently admired the view from the nearby hill of Heimenberg, and decided to have constructed on the site a table consisting of a large rectangular blue limestone slab with a console made of bricks as a support underneath, as can be seen in the present picture. It was situated at the southwesterly end of the “walburg,” an already existing, man-made fortification on the hill, which was constructed in several phases before the 10^th century. The structure consisted of two earthen walls and a canal which together formed a semi-circle. The Koningstafel stood (and still stands today, although not in its original, see fig. 1) at the southwestern end of the highest and most inner wall of this natural fortification. The Heimenberg ranges in height from 40 to 50 meters.  At its eastern end is the highest point, the Grebbeberg, which is famous for the Battle of the Grebbeberg, a major engagement in May 1940 during the Battle of The Netherlands. Nowadays the Heimenberg and Grebbeberg are overgrown with trees, but until the 19^th century this terrain was almost entirely empty and offered wonderful panoramic views to all sides. The chief attraction of the small town of Rhenen was the natural splendor of its setting, with its differences in elevation.  This varied landscape is unusual, by Dutch standards at any rate, and as a result held great imaginative appeal. Documentary evidence in the form of paintings and drawings make it clear that artists certainly found it appealing--Hercules Seghers, Rembrandt, Jan van Goyen, Jacob van Ruisdael and Pieter Saenredam, to name only the most famous, all visited Rhenen.  In the 18^th century many artists made drawings on the spot (see L. Schoemaker, Tegen de Helling van de heuvelrug. Rhenen in oude tekeningen 1600-1900, Utrecht 2007, pp. 200-215).

In the Weldon picture, we see two young men with high hats who have dismounted their horses near the Koningstafel to admire and look out over the panoramic river landscape spread out before them. One of them seems to be making a drawing or reading a paper before him, while the other seems to be looking down at the table. As observed by Paul Huys Janssen  it seems unlikely that this is a self-portrait of the artist;² landscapists often liked to include sketching figures in their works. This does allude, however, to the customary working method of artists at that time, making sketches on site, which would then be developed into finished paintings in the studio.

The Weldon picture was probably painted circa 1646-1648, after Cuyp’s return from his journey through the Province of Utrecht in 1641-1642, when he also stopped in the area around Rhenen to execute a number of drawings. The most important drawing is preserved in the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, showing a View of Rhenen, which Cuyp later used for three different paintings.³ No preliminary drawing for the Weldon painting appears to have survived. Interestingly, another larger painting of circa 1645 by Cuyp in a private collection depicting a View of Rhenen with Travellers at Sunset (fig. 2) shows nearly the same composition, also with two men and their horses standing near the Koningstafel looking out, albeit with a different panorama, that of Rhenen, with its signature tall church tower prominently displayed in the center.  There are differences in the position of the horses, no stone slab lying on the ground, and figures and sheep have been added on the right. The position of the men near the table is almost identical with the figures in the present work, although they are more crisply and freshly depicted in the Weldon panel. 
According to Wheelock (see Literature) the rolling countryside that Cuyp discovered on his trip along the Rhine in the early 1640s provided him with a visual vocabulary that transformed the character of his output. This extensive panoramic view from the Grebbeberg was unlike anything he had experienced before. 

We are grateful to Laurens Schoemaker of the RKD for his help in cataloguing this lot.

A note on the provenance:
The present painting once formed part of two illustrious British collections. Walter Fawkes inherited Farnley Hall in 1792, and was a man of varied intellectual gifts: a cultivated writer, a keen agriculturist and, above all, a great lover and patron of the fine arts. However, Fawkes is best remembered as the intimate friend and one of the earliest patrons of J.M.W. Turner. Turner was welcomed at Farnley Hall, whenever he chose to go, and used to spend months at a time there.⁴ In the late 19^th century the painting then entered the collection of Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, who was an Irish philanthropist and businessman. A great grandson of the founder, Lord Iveagh was chief executive of Guinness, the famous Dublin brewery. He became one of Ireland’s wealthiest men before retiring a multi-millionaire at the age of 40. Interested in fine art all his life, from the 1870s Edward Cecil amassed a distinguished collection of Old Master Paintings, antique furniture and historic textiles. In the late 1880s he was an important client of Duveen and Agnew's, and it was while he was furnishing his London home at Hyde Park Corner that he began building his art collection in earnest. Much of his collection of paintings was donated to the nation after his death in 1927 and is housed at the Iveagh Bequest at Kenwood House, Hampstead, London.

 

1. This reference given by the exhibition catalogue of 2001-2002 has proven to be incorrect: F.G. Stephens, ‘The Private Collections of England’, in: The Athenaeum 1873, p. 407; this is an article regarding the Tynemouth collection in Gateshead.
2. See P. Huys Janssen, in The Hoogsteder exhibition of Dutch landscapes exhibition catalogue, The Hague 1991, pp. 62-63, under cat. no. 8.
3. Ibid.
4. See a painting by John Richard Wildman, J.M.W. Turner and Walter Fawkes at Farnley Hall, signed, oil on canvas, 68.6 by 88.9 cm., Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.