A wooded landscape with travellers and a cart

The majority of Ryckaert's oeuvre reflects the influence of Paul Bril, under whom it has (probably erroneously) been suggested that he studied in Rome, but he was also on occasion inspired by prototypes of Jan Brueghel I: for example, a fully signed Landscape with a mill by Ryckaert, formerly with P. de Boer, Amsterdam (exhibited Amsterdam, Pictura Antiquairs Nationaal, 20-7 October 2002). Similarly, the composition and the figures of the present painting clearly derive from the work of Brueghel: the general composition is comparable to broad landscapes of the latter, for example the Broad landscape with a path through a wood in a private Belgian collection (see K. Ertz, Jan Bruegel der Ältere, Cologne, 1979, no. 114, pl. 292), while the central figure group recurs in various versions after his Way to the market, for example the painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. no. 6328; ibid., under no. 105).

We are very grateful to Drs. Luuk Pijl for the attribution, given on the basis of photographs, and for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.