PIETER DE BLOOT | A landscape with ferries crossing a river

Probably John Macdonald (1824–90), Oaklands, Toronto;
Thence by direct family descent.

The support consists of an uncradled and flat oak panel, bevelled on three sides. There is an old horizontal split or join running across in line with the tops of the trees, and this has begun to open very slightly on the right hand side. The paint surface is in excellent overall condition, with no damages and no signs of wear. The varnish layer is now lightly discoloured but the original colours are bright and lucid beneath. Extensive original underdrawing is visible in several areas, notably the foreground. Inspection under ultra violet light reveals only scattered local retouchings, chiefly around the join and in the sky. This lot is viewed unframed.
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The son of Flemish parents, Pieter de Bloot was raised in Rotterdam. He married three times and it is thought that he was relatively wealthy, but otherwise little is known about his life. It is not known under whom he trained as an artist. He produced a surprisingly large œuvre, consisting primarily of bawdy peasant scenes that reveal the influence of Adriaen Brouwer and David Teniers the Younger. He was also an accomplished landscape painter and in this field was strongly influenced by Jan van Goyen's work of circa 1630. In his book on Van Goyen followers, Beck lists eighteen landscapes by de Bloot, all of which he dates to early in the artist's career, before 1640.¹ The present panel, dated 1628, is certainly one of de Bloot's finest landscapes. It can be most closely compared to a larger, signed painting, which sold in these Rooms, 12 July 2001, lot 199, as well as to another panel, reversed in composition, with very similar figural types awaiting their ferry, and the same curving river in the background creating a fine sense of distance, which sold at Hargesheimer, Düsseldorf, 17 March 2018, lot 2119. However, the present painting remains unique not only in its particularly fresh palette, almost reminiscent of a watercolour, but also in its extremely refined draughtsmanship. Much of the underdrawing remains visible to the naked eye throughout, most notably by the ladder on the left and in the figures sitting on the ferry, revealing de Bloot to be a rather impulsive artist. 

Frits Duparc has tentatively suggested an alternative attribution to Gerrit Claesz. Bleker (1592–1656), and compares this painting to a signed and dated work in the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem,² drawing attention to the similar types of trees and figures, as well as the horizontal format. The trees also evoke the work of Esaias van de Velde (1587–1630), such as those found in the signed and dated work from 1622 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.³

We are grateful to Dr. Fred G. Meijer for suggesting an attribution to de Bloot following first-hand inspection, and to Bart Cornelis and Prof. Christopher Brown for supporting this attribution.

1 See H.-U. Beck, Künstler um Jan van Goyen, Doornspijk 1991, pp. 42–49, cat. nos 61–78. 
2 Inv. no. OS I-660; see N. Köhler (ed.), Painting in Haarlem 1500–1850, The collection of the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem 2006, p. 397, cat. no. 34, reproduced.
3 Inv. no. SK-A-1293; see P.J.J. van Thiel et al., All the Paintings of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Amsterdam/Maarsen 1976, p. 558, cat. no. A 1239, reproduced.