Jan Josefsz van Goyen

This lively drawing is one of a number of equally rapidly executed studies by Van Goyen which share the same format as this sheet, and are similarly inscribed along the top edge with topographical identifications.¹ All probably originate from a single sketchbook, and are dated by Beck to the 1630s.

The annual horse fair at Valkenburg, near Leiden, held each year around 17 September, was a major event dating back to medieval times. A variant of this composition, with different staffage to the left, exists in at least two versions, one in Copenhagen, the other sold in Paris.²

1. H.-U. Beck, Jan van Goyen 1596-1656, vol. I, Amsterdam 1972, cat. nos. Z 744, 745, 761, 765, 766, and idem, vol. III, Doornspijk 1987, cat. no. Z 775A. Another was recently sold, New York, Sotheby’s, 27 January 2021, lot 98

2. Beck, op. cit., vol. III, no. 813a; sale Paris, Sotheby’s, 1 April 2015, lot 105