WILLEM ROMEYN | Cattle and sheep with peasants and ancient ruins beyond

The Earls of Yarborough, Brocklesby Park, Lincolnshire;

With St Lucas Gallery, The Hague, 1955;

Orrock collection (according to a label on the reverse);

F.C. Butôt, Sankt Gilgen, Austria, by 1964;

His posthumous sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 16 November 1993, lot 35, for 27,600 Dutch Guilders, where acquired.

H.J. Ronday, Italië in de toets der Gouden Eeuw, exh. cat., Bosward 1964, p. 50, cat. no. 48;

Niederländisches Kunst aus dem Goldenen Jahrhundert--Gemälde und Zeichnungen im Umkreis grosser Meister aus der Sammlung F.C. Butôt, exh. cat., Salzburg 1972, pp. 110-11, reproduced;

Hollandse en Vlaamse kunst uit de 17e eeuw: hoogtepunten van minder bekende meesters: schilderijen en tekeningen uit de verzameling F.C. Butôt, exh. cat., Rotterdam 1973, pp. 112–13, reproduced;

L.J. Bol and G. Keyes, Netherlandish Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of F.C. Butôt, London 1981, pp. 17 and 168, cat. no. 67, reproduced;

K.J. Müllenmeister, Meer und Land im Licht des 17. Jahrhunderts, vol. III, Bremen 1981, p. 34, cat. no. 327;  

W. Pijbes, M. Aarts, M. J. Bok et al, At Home in the Golden Age, exh. cat., Zwolle 2008, p. 79, cat. no. 66, reproduced in colour;

H.-J. Raupp (ed.), Niederländische Malerei des. 17. Jahrhunderts der SØR Rusche-Sammlung, vol. 5, Stilleben und Tierstücke, Münster/Hamburg/London 2004, pp. 214-17, cat. no. 47, reproduced in colour.

The columns in the background of this painting are a frequently recurring motif in the painting of the Bamboccianti: they formed part of the portico to the Temple of Vespasian in the Forum at Rome. They are seen partly buried in this picture; they remained so until their excavation in 1813. 

A closely related drawing, signed and dated 1695, is in Berlin, SMPK, Kupferstichkabinett.¹

1 https://rkd.nl/explore/images/16632