Adam Pynacker

Possibly Theodorus Fierens, Antwerp;

His sale, 21 March 1763, lot 3, for 73 florins;

Anonymous sale, Paris, Poullain, 15 March 1780, lot 61, for 600 French francs to Duhaes (?);

Marie-Caroline of Bourbon (1798–1870), Duchesse de Berry, Paris;

Her sale ('Galerie de la Duchesse de Berry'), Paris, C.P. Paillet, 4 April 1837, lot 55, for 1,795 florins to Harris Jones;

Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1851–1913), 4th Duke of Sutherland;

His posthumous sale ('The Property of the Late Duke of Sutherland, K.G.'), London, Christie's, 11 July 1913, lot 117, for £94.10s.0d to P. and D. Colnaghi;

With Colnaghi, London;

From whom acquired by P. Newhouse Esq. in 1914;

Anonymous sale, London, 2 May 1918, lot 821, to A.E. Taylor (according to a label on the reverse);

Arthur Lourie (circa 1900–1939) and Marianne (née Weiss) Lourie (1911–1960), Vienna and later Vancouver;

Thence by descent to private collection, Canada;

By whom sold anonymously, New York, Sotheby's, 10 January 1991, lot 25;

Private collection;

From whom presumably acquired by the present owner.

London, British Institution, May 1837, no. 40;

London, British Institution, May 1859, no. 113;

Williamstown, Clark Institute and Sarasota, Ringling Museum of Art, A Golden Harvest, Paintings by Adam Pynacker, 23 July – 11 September 1994 and 12 October 1994 – 1 January 1995, no. 1, reproduced in colour.

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. VI, London 1835, p. 290, no. 10 (described incorrectly as on canvas);

J. Smith, A Catalogue raisonné...., Supplement, London 1842, p. 750, no. 1;

C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis..., vol. IX, Esslingen and Paris 1926, pp. 537–8, nos 66 and 70;

L. Harwood, Adam Pynacker (c. 1620–1673), Doornspijk 1988, pp. 41–42, no. 3, incorrectly reproduced plate 3;

L. Harwood, Reflections on Italy: Adam Pynacker, London 1991, p. 58, no. 3;

L. Harwood, A Golden Harvest, Paintings by Adam Pynacker, exh. cat., Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, and Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 1994–95, pp. 38–39, no. 1, reproduced in colour;

S. Lillie, Was einmal war, Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens, Vienna 2003, p. 710.

Dated by Laurie Harwood to circa 1648, this small and intimate panel is a well preserved example of Adam Pynacker's approach to classical landscape painting. This particular work, which was once in the renowned collections of the Duchesse de Berry and Dukes of Sutherland, contains various motifs that are repeated in some of the earliest works of the artist. Various elements of the staffage as well as rocks, knoll and sparkling waterfall are repeated in landscapes in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and in two private collections.¹ Furthermore, Harwood praised use of ultramarines, vermilions and white accents which in her opinion has added greatly to the richness of this work.

Another version of this composition on canvas was recorded with Galerie Sanct Lucas, Vienna, at an unknown date.²

We are grateful to the Commission for Provenance Research at the Bundesdenkmalamt Vienna for their assistance in clarifying the provenance of this work.

¹ https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/1787 ; Harwood in Williamstown and Sarasota 1994–95, pp. 50–1, 68–69, nos 7 and 16.

² For a reproduction of this version see Harwood 1988, plate 3 (incorrectly identified with this painting).