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Catalog
Premium Philips WOUWERMAN (Haarlem, 1619 - 1668)
Halting during a fa…
See original version (French)
Philips WOUWERMAN (Haarlem, 1619 - 1668)
Halting during a fa…
See original version (French)
Lot no. 55
Description
Philips WOUWERMAN (Haarlem, 1619 - 1668)
Halting during a falcon hunt
Oil on oak panel, one plate
Monogrammed 'Ph W' lower left
The halt during the falcon hunt, oil on oak panel, by P. Wouwerman
15.55 x 21.85 in.
39.5 x 55.5 cm
Provenance: Antony Sijdervelt Collection ;
His sale; Amsterdam, 23 April 1766, no. 1 (acquired at this sale by Van Diemen for Braamcamp for 1230 fl.);
Collection Gerrit Braamcamp (1699-1771), Amsterdam ;
His sale; Amsterdam, Van der Schley, 31 July 1771, no. 283 (acquired by P. Oets for 1175 fl.);
Collection of Prince Dimitri Alexeievich Galitzine (1734-1803), Saint Petersburg, his engraved label and his red wax seal on the reverse;
Collection of Prince Nicolas Borissovitch Youssoupoff (1750-1831), Saint Petersburg, his wax seal and a label on the reverse;
Probably descended from Prince Boris Nicolaevitch Youssoupoff (1794-1849);
Probably by descent from Princess Zinaïda Nikolayevna Youssoupoff (1861-1939) then Prince Felix Felixovitch Youssoupoff (1887-1967);
Private collection, Sweden, 1919;
Anonymous sale; London, Sotheby's, 9 December 1992, no. 14 ;
Richard Green Gallery, London, 1993-1994;
Private collection, United Kingdom;
Chez Johnny van Haeften, London, 2015 ;
Private collection, Belgium
Bibliography: John Smith, A catalogue raisonné, vol. I, London, 1829, p. 228, no. 93
Perhaps Gustav F. Waagen, Die Gemäldesammlung in der Kaiserlichen Eremitage in St. Petersburg nebst Bemerkungen über andere dortige Kunstsammlungen, Munich, 1864, p. 415
Probably Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII Jahrhunderts, vol. II, Esselingen, Paris, 1908, p. 461, no. 677
Clara Bille, De tempel der kunst of het cabinet van den Heer Braamcamp, Amsterdam, 1961, vol. 2. p. 68-68a
Birgit Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668). The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, 2 vols, Doornspijk, 2006, vol. 1, p. 227, no. A144, vol. 2, ill. no. 135
Philips Wouwerman's work consists of landscapes, battles and hunting parties in which the figures' mounts play a prominent role. In addition to this output, he also painted figures for other artists working in Haarlem, such as Jacob van Ruisdael, Jan Wijnants and Cornelis Decker, to embellish their landscapes. Particularly prolific despite a relatively short career, Wouwerman left a body of work of almost 600 paintings. His favourite subjects included hunting scenes. Our painting probably dates from the end of Wouwerman's career, although it is difficult to put a precise date on it as there are no dated works from the last fifteen years of his career. The white horse motif is reminiscent of the one in the Rijksmuseum painting dated 1662-1664 (no. SK-A-484). Wouwerman also interpreted a similar subject in a painting in the Mauritshuis (Gallery of Prince Willem V, inv. no. 216), which was probably painted around 1660-1670.
In our beautiful panel, two elegant couples dressed in rich clothing are chatting and letting their horses drink at a fountain on the outskirts of a ruin during a falcon hunt. They are accompanied by their dogs, beaters and crew. As usual, clouds play an important role in Wouwerman's work. Here, in a lyrical sweep, they cover a large part of the panel and enliven this remarkable hilly landscape in the dewy morning light. These largely narrative scenes by Wouwerman, who delights in depicting a multitude of amusing details such as this character drinking water from the fountain using his hat, were particularly popular and avidly collected in the 18th and 19th centuries. They regularly fetched some of the highest prices for paintings from the Dutch Golden Age in his native country, as well as in France and England. This is the case with our painting, which comes from important collections, including that of art lover Gerrit Braamcamp, who made his fortune in the timber trade (fig. 1). Over a period of thirty years, he amassed an impressive collection of Flemish and Dutch paintings. Our panel was subsequently acquired by Dimitri Alexeievitch Galitzine (fig. 2), a member of an important Russian family and famous for his role as intermediary in the acquisitions made by Catherine II of Russia, first in Paris (1756-1793) and then in The Hague (1769-1782)1. This erudite man spent most of his life abroad as part of his diplomatic duties. We know that he bought several works at the sale of Gerrit Braamcamp's famous cabinet for Catherine II and for his cousin Alexander Mikhailovitch Galitzine (1723-1807)2, as well as for himself3. The painting then entered the collections of Nicolaï Borissovitch Youssoupoff (fig. 3), who also assembled a large collection of paintings as ambassador to Catherine II of Russia. We know that he studied in the Netherlands and that he met Dimitri Galitzine there, from whom he asked for a recommendation to the University of Leiden so that he could enrol4. Established in Leiden's Breestraat, he began collecting works of art and books. In the eighteenth century, it was in good taste to own a painting by Philips Wouwerman. The Russian princes were well acquainted with the artists in vogue at the time, and knew how to steer their collections in the right direction.
1. It was he who bought Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son for the future Hermitage Museum in 1766.
2. On this subject, see the article by Olga Popova, "Structure and connections of Alexander Golitsyn's agents network on the European art market of the 2nd half of the 18th century", MODOS Revista de Historia da Arte, volume 1, no. 3, September-December 2017, p. 14.
3. This is the case for the painting by Jan ten Compe in the Amsterdam museum, no. SA 562.
4. On this subject, we refer to the work by Sergej Androsov, Boris I. Asvarischch, Vincent Boele and Ekaterina Deryabina, Collectors in St Petersburg, Zwolle, 2006, pp. 38-39 and 43.
Philips WOUWERMAN (Haarlem, 1619 - 1668)
39.5 x 55.5 cm
See original version (French)
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