Lot Essay
A convincing argument has been gathered for the attribution of the present painting to Theodor Matham, a skilled draughtsman and engraver, by Bernard de Montgolfier, by comparison with A View of the Pont de la Tournelle and Ile Notre Dame in the Muse Carnavalet, Paris (see B. de Montgolfier, Le Muse Carnavalet, L'Histoire de Paris illustre, Un aperu des collections, 1986, pp. 32-3, illustrated. In a second article, (Paris in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Apollo, CI, no. 158, April 1975, p. 272, fig. 11) de Montgolfier compares the Muse Carnavalet painting to a signed drawing by Matham in the same collection which depicts the right half of the same view with almost identical barges on the Seine and with three identical figures. The two pictures are of almost exact size, with strong similarities in composition, suggesting that they may originally have been pendants.
The Muse Carnavalet painting is datable to circa 1645, the year that the wooden Pont de la Tournelle was replaced in stone. The present picture shows the sixteenth century Htel de Nevers and the Tour de Nesle, which had survived from the city walls of Philippe-Auguste; both were demolished between 1641 and 1663 to make way for the Collge des Quartre-Nations. The Tour de Bois, a vestige of the walls of Charles V, and the last remains of the medieval castle of the Louvre, shown flanking Henri IV's Grande Galerie du Louvre on the right bank of the Seine, were demolished during the same period.
Paris was painted by a number of Dutch artists in the mid-seventeenth century, and an engraving of this view was made by Stefano della Bella. Depictions of the city by Abraham de Verwer, Renier Nooms (Zeeman), Pieter Wouwerman and Hendrick Mommers (this last the same view as the present picture) are in the Muse Carnavalet and the Muse du Louvre. A representation of the present view by Pieter Bout was sold at Christie's, New York, May 18, 1994, lot 3. Another painting with similar figure grouping and characters as the present work, has been given a tentative attribution to Jean Petit by Irena Vois (I. Vois, La vue du Pont-Neuf au Muse de Wilanw, Bulletin of the National Museum of Varsovie, Poland, VIII, 1967, no. 4, pp. 112-24, illustrated, p. 112). For depictions of this view as it appeared after the removal of the last vestiges of medieval Paris, see the pictures datable to the 1670s sold at Christie's, London, July 7, 1972, lot 20 and March 30, 1979, lot 103.
The Muse Carnavalet painting is datable to circa 1645, the year that the wooden Pont de la Tournelle was replaced in stone. The present picture shows the sixteenth century Htel de Nevers and the Tour de Nesle, which had survived from the city walls of Philippe-Auguste; both were demolished between 1641 and 1663 to make way for the Collge des Quartre-Nations. The Tour de Bois, a vestige of the walls of Charles V, and the last remains of the medieval castle of the Louvre, shown flanking Henri IV's Grande Galerie du Louvre on the right bank of the Seine, were demolished during the same period.
Paris was painted by a number of Dutch artists in the mid-seventeenth century, and an engraving of this view was made by Stefano della Bella. Depictions of the city by Abraham de Verwer, Renier Nooms (Zeeman), Pieter Wouwerman and Hendrick Mommers (this last the same view as the present picture) are in the Muse Carnavalet and the Muse du Louvre. A representation of the present view by Pieter Bout was sold at Christie's, New York, May 18, 1994, lot 3. Another painting with similar figure grouping and characters as the present work, has been given a tentative attribution to Jean Petit by Irena Vois (I. Vois, La vue du Pont-Neuf au Muse de Wilanw, Bulletin of the National Museum of Varsovie, Poland, VIII, 1967, no. 4, pp. 112-24, illustrated, p. 112). For depictions of this view as it appeared after the removal of the last vestiges of medieval Paris, see the pictures datable to the 1670s sold at Christie's, London, July 7, 1972, lot 20 and March 30, 1979, lot 103.