ATTRIBUTED TO LUCAS VAN VALCKENBORCH | A path in the mountain

The panel is flat, stable, uncradled, and comprised of a single piece of wood. The panel is beveled on the sides and the bottom edge but not on the top edge, which does appear to have been trimmed at some point in it's history. The painting is clean and in very nice condition, with lovely retention of detailing throughout the mountain landscape. UV light reveals some scattered retouches along the bottom edge which are likely due to frame abrasion, as well as a couple of very small isolated retouches in the left sky. The varnish is even and clean and the painting should be hung in its current condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Valckenborch, along with contemporaries such as Gillis Mostaert and Gillis van Coninxloo, was working in the tradition of the so-called ‘world landscapes’ - the term used to describe the panoramic vistas taken from a bird’s-eye viewpoint - largely painted in Antwerp in the 16th century.¹ Chief among the exponents of this art form, reflective of advances in cartography and a period of discovery, were Joachim Patinir, Herri Met de Bles and ultimately Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The present work exemplifies the influence on Valckenborch of the subject matter, strong formal compositions and minute depiction of natural detail found in the work of these artists, as well as the attention paid towards atmospheric conditions and the unification of perspective. Here, the artist employs nearly microscopic figures traveling along the rocky path to create an overall sense of grand atmospheric scale.  The overall composition is closely related with a nearly identical work by Roelant Savery, itself formerly attributed to Lucas van Valckenborch.² 

1. For a full discussion of this term, see W. S. Gibson, "Mirror of the Earth": The World Landscape in Sixteenth-Century Flemish Painting, Princeton 1989, particularly pp. xx–xxiii.
2. A. Wied, Lucas und Marten van Valckenborch (1535–1597 und 1534–1612), Lingen 1990, cat. no. 119.