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an image of a painting of people and animals in a fielda picture of a painting of a boat on the watera picture of a painting of animals and birds in a fieldpainting of a large group of animals in a field with a boat in the backgrounda painting of a group of animals in a fielda painting of a man standing on a hill with animalsa painting of a building with a clock on the top of itpainting of a group of animals in a field with a boat in the backgroundpainting of a painting of animals in a field with a boat in the backgrounda painting of a group of animals and birds in a fielda painting of a group of animals in a fieldpainting of a group of animals in a landscape with a bird in the skypainting of a painting of a boat in a field with animals and birdspainting of a painting of a boat with people and animals in front of it
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132 - Cornelis SAFTLEVEN (Gorkum, 1607 – Rotterdam, 1681) Noah’s A…
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Estimate €20,000 - €30,000
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Description
Cornelis SAFTLEVEN (Gorkum, 1607 – Rotterdam, 1681) Noah’s Ark Oak panel, three planks, unpanelled Height: 73.2 cm Width: 106.5 cm Signed lower left. Trained in Amsterdam by his father, the landscape painter Herman I, Cornelis Saftleven is thought to have visited Antwerp around 1632. He painted landscapes to which Rubens (who owned eight of Saftleven’s paintings) added figures. In Antwerp, he became familiar with the works of Brouwer and Teniers. He was in Utrecht with his brother Herman two years later, then returned to Rotterdam in 1637. He was appointed dean of the Guild of Saint Luke in that city in 1667. This composition depicts the biblical episode of the animals entering the ark. A crowd of animals – horses, cattle, goats, dogs, cats, monkeys, birds and other species – gathers in the foreground and makes its way onto the ark via a footbridge. Noah appears near the entrance, welcoming the animals. The profusion of species is one of the main attractions of the scene and testifies to Saftleven’s remarkable attention to the observation and depiction of the animal world. The treatment of light and the sky lends the biblical episode a theatrical dimension: the landscape seems to herald the impending flood whilst the imposing ark dominates the composition. In Saftleven’s work, the religious subject thus also becomes an opportunity to showcase a veritable ‘animal encyclopaedia’, featuring a wide variety of postures, textures and characteristics. Another version of Noah’s Ark by Saftleven was put up for sale in Paris, (Millon et associés) on 24 June 2005, lot 14 (42.5 x 53, signed and dated 1660; W. Schutz, *Cornelis Saftleven*; New York 1978, no. 536).
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About the sale Provenance and Collection
Auction location
Auction time 10/30/2026 at 11:00 AM
Lot description modified on 10/13/2026 at 6:41 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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