Circle of Gerrit Adriaensz. Berckheyde

With Newhouse Galleries, New York, by 1972 (as Gerrit Berckheyde);
Anonymous sale, Munich, Neumeister Kunstauktionen, 26 September 2001, lot 482 (as Attributed to Gerrit Adriaensz. Berckheyde).

The Connoisseur, 1970, vol. CLXXV, no. 704, reproduced p. 63;
Burlington Magazine, 1972, vol. CXIV, no. 827, p. xxxi, reproduced (as Gerrit Berckheyde);
C. Lawrence, Gerrit Berckheyde, Doornspijk 1991, p. 37, note 35zz (under list of paintings by Berckheyde of the Grote Markt and Saint Bavo);
Q. Buvelot, M. Hilaire, and O. Zeder, Tableaux Flamands Et Hollandais du Musée Fabre de Montpellier, Montpellier 1998, pp. 14-17, under cat. no. 4, note 12 (as a copy after the painting in the Musée Fabre). 

The canvas is relined. The painting presents a lovely and decorative image beneath a slightly dulled varnish. A few small and very thin scuffs to surface at center of right edge, to left of figure with dogs in lower right quadrant, and in the lower right corner, although none of these are distracting. Inspection under UV reveals an some spots of old retouching in the sky, for example to the left of the cathedral, and a thin line of retouching at center of left edge. A few small and very scattered spots are visible in the architecture of the cathedral, as well as a thin line in the large stained glass window at right. A few additional very small spots visible in the foreground, for example to the right of a group of figures near center, and some possible thin lines of strengthening to the costume of some of the figures, for example the man with the dogs at lower right. The painting can be hung in its present state. Offered in a carved dark wood frame with a gilt liner.
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This grand and luminous cityscape depicting Haarlem's Grote Markt and the church of St. Bavo closely follows a painting by Gerrit Adriaensz. Berckheyde in the Musée Fabre in Montpellier.^{1 1. Inv. no. 838-1-1, oil on canvas, 87.5 by 117.5 cm. See Q. Buvelot, et al., under Literature, cat. no. 4, reproduced.}