A Shepherd piping on a Knoll, a dog and his flock nearby; and A Shepherdess reclining with a Rabbit, a Hound and a Ram

Details

Peter Wtewael (1596-1660)
A Shepherd piping on a Knoll, a dog and his flock nearby; and A Shepherdess reclining with a Rabbit, a Hound and a Ram
oil on canvas
the first 42 x 55in. (106.7 x 139.7cm.); the second 42 x 51 5/8in. (106.7 x 131.2cm.)
two (2)

Provenance

Possibly Peter Wtewael, Utrecht, until 1660. Possibly Jacob Martens and Aletta Martens-Pater, Utrecht, 1669.
Baron Axel Reedtz-Thott, Gavnø Castle, Naestved, Denmark, by 1785 and by descent; 2 July 1976, lot 36.
Anon Sale, Sotheby's, 6 July 1983, lot 71.

Literature

Lange, Baroniet Gavnøs Malerisamlung, 1876, no. 23.
Fortnegnelse over to hundrede of Baroniet Gavnøs Malerier af aeldre Malere samt over des Portraet samling, Copenhagen, 1914, p. 54, no. 196, as Joachim Wtewael, at Gavnø by 1785.
A.W. Lowenthal, Some Paintings by Peter Wtewael (1596-1660), The Burlington Magazine, CXVI, no. 116, July 1974, p. 466, figs. 69 and 70. A. McNeil Kettering, The Dutch Arcadia: Pastoral Art and its Audience in the Golden Age, Montclair, New Jersey, 1983, pp. 40-1, 46 and 158, no. 15, figs. 27-8.
A.W. Lowenthal, Joachim Wtewael and Dutch Mannerism, Doornspijk, 1986, pp. 73 and 178-9, nos. D-12 and D-13, pls. 174-5 and colour pls. XXVI and XXVII.

Lot Essay

Lowenthal, (loc. cit., 1986) dates the present pair of pictures to c. 1627-8 and compares them to A Shepherd with Bagpipes and A Shepherdess with a Lamb, of 1623, by the artist's father, Joachim Wtewael, on loan to the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass., (ibid., p. 150, nos. A-86 and A87). The facial types employed by both artists in both pairs are very similar and it is probable that in these pictures, Peter was working from the same models as his father.

Referring to the first picture of the present pair, Lowenthal points out 'the witty juxtaposition of the goat's horn with the background sheep...typical of Peter's play with objects in different planes of depth.' She continues: 'the robust figures, a predilection for smooth, curving figural forms and a hearty naturalism in flora and fauna are also characteristic of his style'.

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