Lot Essay
Visscher drew several views in and around Amsterdam, mostly datable to 1607-80 (cf. M. Simaon, Claes Jansz. Visscher, Freiburg i. Br., 1985, pp.57 ff., nos. 1, 16-23, 25, 41, 52-3, 55, 59 and 69).
Hollstein lists comparable prints with views around Amsterdam (nos. 140-3), which are generally dated in the same period, but may be compared in style to the present lot, executed some 30 years later. One of these shows the 'Mylpael by Slooten' with the Slooterweg near Slooten, illustrating that Visscher made views here. Simon (op.cit., no. 105) was not able to trace a drawing of Slooten seen from the Slooterweg that was mentioned in several early sale catalogues. The present lot would seem comparable in handling to two landscape drawings in the Fondation Custodia, Instituut Néerlandais, Paris (C. van Hasselt, Dessins de Paysagistes Hollandais du XVIIe Siècle, Paris, 1968, nos. 166 and 169, pls. 22-3).
As Boudewijn Bakker has kindly pointed out, the Slooterweg was a well-known destination for artists to make drawings. As he noted in Het onderwerp van Rembrandts ets, De drie boerenhuizen, Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis, 90, 1-2, pp.21-30, Rembrandt also made several drawings of farmhouses along the Slooterweg (such as Benesch 835, 1238, 1287-9 and 1293), resulting in his etching of three farmhouses of 1650 (Bartsch 217), possibly along the Slooterweg.
The farmhouse with a haybarn behind it in the present lot may in fact be compared to that in Rembrandt's later drawing in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (Benesch 1293). To the right is the 'jaagpad', along which the horses drawing ferries could walk. The small dyke at the right would protect the Sloterpolder from the water in the nearby Nieuwe Meer and Haarlemmermeer.
The present would seem to show the present Sloterkade near the Surinameplein, where the Overtoom is still situated
Hollstein lists comparable prints with views around Amsterdam (nos. 140-3), which are generally dated in the same period, but may be compared in style to the present lot, executed some 30 years later. One of these shows the 'Mylpael by Slooten' with the Slooterweg near Slooten, illustrating that Visscher made views here. Simon (op.cit., no. 105) was not able to trace a drawing of Slooten seen from the Slooterweg that was mentioned in several early sale catalogues. The present lot would seem comparable in handling to two landscape drawings in the Fondation Custodia, Instituut Néerlandais, Paris (C. van Hasselt, Dessins de Paysagistes Hollandais du XVIIe Siècle, Paris, 1968, nos. 166 and 169, pls. 22-3).
As Boudewijn Bakker has kindly pointed out, the Slooterweg was a well-known destination for artists to make drawings. As he noted in Het onderwerp van Rembrandts ets, De drie boerenhuizen, Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis, 90, 1-2, pp.21-30, Rembrandt also made several drawings of farmhouses along the Slooterweg (such as Benesch 835, 1238, 1287-9 and 1293), resulting in his etching of three farmhouses of 1650 (Bartsch 217), possibly along the Slooterweg.
The farmhouse with a haybarn behind it in the present lot may in fact be compared to that in Rembrandt's later drawing in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (Benesch 1293). To the right is the 'jaagpad', along which the horses drawing ferries could walk. The small dyke at the right would protect the Sloterpolder from the water in the nearby Nieuwe Meer and Haarlemmermeer.
The present would seem to show the present Sloterkade near the Surinameplein, where the Overtoom is still situated