Lot Essay
Professor Vey dates the drawing to the period 1632-5. Although the site cannot be identified it is likely to be in England, perhaps near Rye where van Dyck made a celebrated group of drawings (H. Vey, op. cit., I, nos. 288-91, II, pls. 340-3). Rye was the port from which boats made the crossing to Dieppe, and van Dyck probably drew his views of the town while waiting for a favourable wind. The artist was in Rye on two different occasions as the drawings of the town in the Pierpont Morgan Drawing and the Uffizi are dated 1633 and 1634 respectively, H. Vey, op. cit., I, nos. 288 and 289, II, pls. 340-1. Although the present drawing may be of an English view, the sparseness of the composition in the present drawing is comparable with that of two landscapes, probably drawn in Flanders, now in the British Museum, one of which is dated 1634, H. Vey, op. cit., I, nos. 293-4, II, pls. 345-6. As Paul Oppé first pointed out, the British Museum drawings are likely to have been drawn in Flanders as the trees are shown in full leaf and the artist had left England in March of that year, P. Oppé, Sir Anthony van Dyck in England, The Burlington Magazine, 1941, LXXIX, p. 190. The extraordinary economy and atmostphere of van Dyck's pen and ink landscapes can only be paralleled in the 17th Century by Rembrandt's drawings of some twenty years later.
Landscape drawings, such as the present one, which are clearly drawn en plein air were no doubt inspired by Rubens studies such as the Dead Tree covered with Brambles at Chatsworth, J. Held, Rubens Selected Drawings, Oxford, 1986, no. 116, illustrated. The motif of a wooded ridge in this and three other pen and ink landscape drawings of this period (Vey, figs. 345-6 and 352) also suggest that van Dyck had studied drawings and engravings by Titian and Campagnola. Although it is impossible to ascertain where van Dyck drew many of his landscapes, it is perhaps not coincidental that 18 of the 23 landscape drawings and plant studies accepted by Vey have 18th Century English provenances- most notably Jonathan Richardson Senior (1665-1745) who owned 13 of them
Landscape drawings, such as the present one, which are clearly drawn en plein air were no doubt inspired by Rubens studies such as the Dead Tree covered with Brambles at Chatsworth, J. Held, Rubens Selected Drawings, Oxford, 1986, no. 116, illustrated. The motif of a wooded ridge in this and three other pen and ink landscape drawings of this period (Vey, figs. 345-6 and 352) also suggest that van Dyck had studied drawings and engravings by Titian and Campagnola. Although it is impossible to ascertain where van Dyck drew many of his landscapes, it is perhaps not coincidental that 18 of the 23 landscape drawings and plant studies accepted by Vey have 18th Century English provenances- most notably Jonathan Richardson Senior (1665-1745) who owned 13 of them