A wooded landscape with a traveller on horseback, a milkmaid and peasants by a cottage, an elegant couple and a carriage beyond

Details

Philips Wouwerman (Haarlem 1619-1668)
A wooded landscape with a traveller on horseback, a milkmaid and peasants by a cottage, an elegant couple and a carriage beyond
signed 'PHS. W' ('PHS' linked, lower right); and inscribed 'N:^o37' (on the reverse)
oil on panel
17 x 24 5/8 in. (43.2 x 62.6 cm.)

Provenance

William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington (1719-1779); (+) Christie's, London, 30 March 1781, lot 86, as 'A most capital landscape and figures - a true scene from nature. It is impossible to view so excellent a picture without admiration - the figures are of his superior style' (62 gns. to van der Gucht).
Lord Gwydir, Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire and Whitehall, London; (+) Christie's, London, 9 May 1829, lot 40 (65 gns. to Henry Bone, presumably for the following).
Joseph Neeld, Grittleton House, near Chippenham, Wiltshire, and by descent to his son,
Sir John Neeld, 1st Bt., Grittleton House, near Chippenham, Wiltshire, by 1877, and by descent to
L.W. Neeld, Christie's, London, 9 June 1944, lot 37 (1,100gns. to Slatter, from whom purchased by Mr. Meyer, 28 June 1944, for 1,600 gns.).
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 10 July 1998, lot 21 (£106,000 to the present owner).

Literature

C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné etc., II, London, 1909, pp. 604-5, no. 1061.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

Brought to you by

Alexis Ashot

aashot@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2248

Lot Essay

We are grateful to Marijke de Kinkelder, of the RKD, The Hague, for confirming the attribution, on the basis of photographs.

Joseph Neeld (1789-1856) formed a notable collection of old master pictures and contemporary sculptures for Grittleton House, a neo-Romanesque mansion by James Thomson. We are grateful to Burton B. Fredericksen for highlighting that this painting was presumably bought at the Gwydir sale of 1829 by Henry Bone acting for Joseph Neeld. Bone was a regular buyer on Neeld's behalf, including four other pictures at the same sale. Neeld's own catalogue at Yale is annotated with his initials by this lot and others.

More from Old Master & British Paintings Day Sale

View All