Alexander Keirincx

This fine panel, signed and dated 1619 and in very good condition, bears on the reverse the mark of the Antwerp panel-maker Guilliam Aertssen, active between 1612 and 1626, thus corroborating the date applied by the painter himself.

The year 1619 was a key date for Keirincx: this was when he was admitted to the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp. The work can therefore be assigned to the very earliest part of his career, before he left Antwerp for Utrecht and then London, where he stayed for several years, working for Charles I, before settling there permanently.

As is often the case with Keirincx, the subject – gentlemen hunting with dogs and a falcon – is in fact a pretext for a composition featuring a magnificent and lush forest landscape.