Herman Saftleven made several visits to the Rhine valley in his life, in the early 1640s, in 1651 and another short visit in 1663. From 1663 to 1666 Saftleven produced a series of large-scale drawings for the Atlas of the Amsterdam lawyer Laurens van der Hem (now in Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek). Possibly in conjunction with this commission, Satfleven painted a series of imaginary Rhine views on copper. These copper paintings, dating mostly from 1662 and 1663 are uniform in style and execution. The present lot, dating from 1663, is close to these imaginary views, with the one exception that Saftleven actually painted an excisting location. Depicted in the present lot is a side valley of the Rhine in the Siebengebirge, near the Drachenfels, looking towards the Rhine valley. Furthermore the houses depicted are typical of the Rhine area in the 17th Century.

See colour illustration