Aert van der Neer

Johan van der Linden van Slingeland (1701–1782), Dordrecht;

His estate sale, Dordrecht, Yver and Delfos, 22 August 1785, lot 291;

Where acquired by Jan Wubbels (circa 1728–1791), Amsterdam, for 113 guilders;

Lords Huntingfield, Heveningham Hall, Suffolk;

With Asscher and Welcker, London, by 1923;

With Vermeer Gallery, London, 1923;

James Broughton Dugdale (1855–1927), Wroxall Abbey, Warwick;

By whose Executors sold ('Sold by Order of the Executors of James Dugdale, Esq., deceased, late of Wroxall Abbey, Warwick'), London, Christie's, 24 June 1927, lot 152, for £294, to 'Lewis';

With D. Katz, Dieren and Arnhem, by circa 1933;

Thence by descent to Hartog (Harry) Katz (1916–1997);

With Howard Young Galleries, New York, circa 1947;

With Kunsthandel Pieter de Boer, Amsterdam, by 1958 and until at least 1960;

Frederick Engel (1924–2019), Wilton, Connecticut, by circa 1988;

With Otto Naumann, New York;

From whom acquired, by 2002.

Belgrade, Cvijeta Zuzoric Art Pavilion, Izložba sto umetničkih slika starih majstora iz pet stoljeća; Exposition de cent tableaux maîtres anciens de cinq siècles, 16 December 1931 – 5 January 1932, no. 84;

Amsterdam, Arti et Amicitiae, 16^de en 17^de eeuwsche Hollandsche en Vlaamsche schilderijen, 7 May – 4 June 1938, no. 52.

H. de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, vol. VII, London 1923, p. 403, no. 331;

Izložba sto umetničkih slika starih majstora iz pet stoljeća; Exposition de cent tableaux maîtres anciens de cinq siècles, exh. cat., Belgrade 1931, no. 84, reproduced;

W. Stechow, Dutch Painting in the Seventeenth Century, Providence 1938, n.p., no. 32, reproduced;

Tentoonstelling van 16^de en 17^de eeuwsche Hollandsche en Vlaamsche schilderijen, exh. cat., Amsterdam 1938, p. 17, no. 52;

Catalogue of Old Pictures, Summer Exhibition, exh. cat., Amsterdam 1960, n.p., no. 25, reproduced;

Catalogue of Old Pictures, Winter Exhibition, exh. cat., Amsterdam 1960, n.p., no. 7, reproduced;

W. Schulz, Aert van der Neer, Doornspijk 2002, p. 421, no. 1188, reproduced pl. 42 and fig. 132 (as dated 1645).

Aert van der Neer painted this panoramic nocturne in 1647, revealing his distinctive fascination with atmospheric and luminous effects. The moon hangs low in the sky above one of Holland’s inland waterways, its silvery light reflected on the river’s still surface. The composition’s vertical elements counterbalance the receding riverbanks, which are bathed in the soft glow of the night sky, thereby creating a striking sense of spatial depth. In the foreground, two figures stand on a moored boat at a quiet quay, framed by a large tree to the right. Van der Neer’s masterful use of tonal contrast and reflection demonstrates his keen sensitivity to the subtleties of light and shadow. Van der Neer devoted himself extensively to nocturnal landscapes, a genre that became increasingly popular among Dutch artists beginning in the early 1620s, inspired in part by Hendrick Goudt’s engravings after paintings by Adam Elsheimer.