Hunters in a wooded landscape with a village and an extensive landscape beyond

We are grateful to Dr. Luuk Pijl and to Michel Kervyn de Meerendré for independently confirming the attribution to Mirou on the basis of transparencies. The latter dates the picture to circa 1610-20 when the artist was living and working in Frankenthal under the influence of Gillis van Coninxloo. This was the period in which Mirou evolved his personal style of fantastical wooded and village landscapes which are reminiscent of another Frankenthal artist, Pieter Schoubroeck. The present composition is effectively divided by a group of trees in the centre with the forest on the left and a view of a village on the right. The recession into space is defined by bands of colour and light (a shadowed brown foreground, a green middle ground and blue background). Such devices were commonly used by Mirou at this time and can be seen for instance in a picture dated 1609 (sold at Bukowski, Stockholm, 29-31 May 2001, lot 403); in the Wooded Landscape in the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart; and in the Village by a Wood in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen. The meaning of the initials 'F.C.P.' on the dog collar has not yet been discovered.