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Lot Essay
Born in Louvain, Martin van Valkenborch, the older brother of Lukas van Valkenborch (1535-1597) enrolled in the painters' guild in Mechelen on 13 August 1559. He moved to Antwerp in 1564 and after the iconoclasm of 1566 he fled to Aachen, where he is mentioned as a citizen in 1573. He returned to Antwerp in 1575-76, but ten years later when Spanish troops conquered the area south of the Meuse, he fled again, this time to Frankfurt am Main. Here he and his brother Lukas ran a flourishing workshop with which also the still life painter Georg Flegel (1563-1638) was associated. Marten van Valkenborch died in Frankfurt in January 1612.
The Four Seasons and the Labours of the Months of the Year were popular subjects with both the Valckenborchs. The present composition by Marten shows the labours of the summer month with farmers harvesting, while others rest and drink. In the centre of the composition a castle with a moat and a drawbridge are carefully painted, while on the horizon a large city alongside a river can be discerned. The art of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (circa 1528-1568) provided Marten with an influential model. The merry company in the foreground may have been directly influenced by the figures in Bruegel's famous Wheat Harvest, in the Metropolitan Museum.
The composition closely relates to a Summer in a series of the Four Seasons offered in the Hallifax Sale, Christie's London, 12 November, 1938, lot 63 (Wied 1990, op. cit., cat.nos.31-35) and it thus seems likely that the present lot was one of a similar series, although no other paintings which could have been companion pieces are known. Wied believed that a Winter in the Muse des Augustins, Poitiers (Wied, op. cit., 1990, cat.no.35) formed part of these series, but the sizes and scale of the figures do not tally. The stylistic similarity with the ex-Hallifax Summer of 1600 suggest a similar dating for the present lot. Shortly after 1600, Marten's landscapes became increasingly manneristic with twisted human figures, dramatically arranged clouds and large fanciful mountains. Unlike his brother, whose landscapes are often of identifiable places, Marten's views are usually imaginary. The castle in the present picture may have been inspired by an actual building, but it is probably the artist's invention
The Four Seasons and the Labours of the Months of the Year were popular subjects with both the Valckenborchs. The present composition by Marten shows the labours of the summer month with farmers harvesting, while others rest and drink. In the centre of the composition a castle with a moat and a drawbridge are carefully painted, while on the horizon a large city alongside a river can be discerned. The art of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (circa 1528-1568) provided Marten with an influential model. The merry company in the foreground may have been directly influenced by the figures in Bruegel's famous Wheat Harvest, in the Metropolitan Museum.
The composition closely relates to a Summer in a series of the Four Seasons offered in the Hallifax Sale, Christie's London, 12 November, 1938, lot 63 (Wied 1990, op. cit., cat.nos.31-35) and it thus seems likely that the present lot was one of a similar series, although no other paintings which could have been companion pieces are known. Wied believed that a Winter in the Muse des Augustins, Poitiers (Wied, op. cit., 1990, cat.no.35) formed part of these series, but the sizes and scale of the figures do not tally. The stylistic similarity with the ex-Hallifax Summer of 1600 suggest a similar dating for the present lot. Shortly after 1600, Marten's landscapes became increasingly manneristic with twisted human figures, dramatically arranged clouds and large fanciful mountains. Unlike his brother, whose landscapes are often of identifiable places, Marten's views are usually imaginary. The castle in the present picture may have been inspired by an actual building, but it is probably the artist's invention