Johan Lagoor (active 1645-1659)

Prints by Johan Lagoor, or Jan de Lagoor, as he is also known, are of the greatest rarity. Hollstein records a total of eight plates, but Clifford S. Ackley in his exhibition catalogue Printmaking in the Age of Rembrandt states that Lagoor's output was in fact limited to only six works (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 28 October 1980-4 January 1981, p. 189, pl. 126.). Whatever the exact figure, not only is his ouevre very small but impressions are also extremely rare. Only two or three of each are known, and of The Houses behind the Trees (Holl. 1), the impression in the British Museum has been until now the only recorded example. The present lot constitutes a unique opportunity to examine this little-known printmaker's work, containing as it does all six undisputed compositions.