Adriaen van de Velde (1636-1672)

Details

Adriaen van de Velde (1636-1672)

A Sheepfold in a Forest

with inscription 'A. van de Velde' (verso); black chalk, grey wash, grey ink framing lines, watermark two standing bears in a crowned shield above letters BW
178 x 275 mm.

Provenance

J. de Vos; De Vries, Brondgeest, Engelberts & Roos, Amsterdam, 30 Oct. 1833; Kunstboek W, lot 5 ('Een Schapenkooi-Uitmuntend fraai en zonachtig met o.i. inkt', f.100, to De Vries)
J. de Vos (L. 1450); Roos, Muller & Co., Pappeldam & Schouten, v. Gogh, Amsterdam, 22-6 May 1883, lot 550 (to Duval)
Anon. sale, C.C. Huysmans and M. van Wijngaerdt, Amsterdam, 21-2 June 1887, lot 222
Dr. A. Sträter (L. 787); H.G. Gutekunst, Stuttgart, 10-4 May 1898, lot 1207
R.P. Goldschmidt (L. 2926); F.A.C. Prestel, Frankfurt/Main, 4-11 Oct. 1917, lot 593 (to Van Roy)
H.C. Valkema Blouw; F. Muller, Amsterdam, 2-4 March 1954, part lots 725-34

Literature

P. Schatborn, 'De Hut' van Adriaen van de Velde, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, 1975, XXIII, no. 3, pp. 159-65, pl. 6
M. Schapelhouman, P. Schatborn, Land & Water, Dutch Drawings from the 17th century in the Rijksmuseum Print Room, Amsterdam, 1987, p. 69

Exhibited

Utrecht, 1959/60, no. 69
Laren, 1963, no. 113
Nijmegen, 1965, no. 39
Leeuwarden, 1966, no. 31
Bonn/Saarbrücken/Bochum, 1968/9, no. 138
Rheydt, 1971, no. 77
Amsterdam, 1975/6, no. 124
Bremen/Braunschweig/Stuttgart, 1979/80, no. 139
Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet; Washington, National Gallery of Art, Dutch Figure Drawings from the Seventeenth Century, 1981-2, p. 117, no. 6

Lot Essay

As described by Schatborn (op.cit., 1975), this is one of a group of drawings and one counterproof that Van de Velde combined to create the composition of his picture 'De Hut' dated 1671 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. no. A443). Van de Velde would seem to have drawn the present lot 'naer het leven' as described by A. Houbraken: '... hij zig yverig hield aan het teekenen en schilderen van Koetjes, Osjes, Schaapjes, en Lantschappen, torsende dagelyks met zijn gereedschapjes naar buiten in 't velt, 't welk hy tot het einde van zyn leven eens ter weeke onderhouden heeft.' (De Groote Schouburg ..., III, Amsterdam, 1721, p. 20).
Schatborn furthermore notes that Van de Velde's picture was acquired by the Director of the young Rijksmuseum Cornelis Apostool (see lots 257-8 in this sale) in the sale of the J.A. Brentano Collection on 13 May 1822. The catalogue described it as a famous picture, and fetching Dfl. 8.290 is was the sale's most expensive lot, while it has already made Dfl. 4.020 in a sale in 1796.
A larger drawing by Van de Velde, possibly of the same sheepfold, is in the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam (inv.no. A4603). What Schapelhouman and Schatborn note (op.cit., pp. 69-70) for that drawing, 'The refined play of light and dark, which is characteristic of Van de Velde's paintings, has been expressed in the drawing just as effectively without colour.' would also seem to apply for the present lot

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