Drs. F. Kuyvenhoven has kindly confirmed the attribution, noting that it is unusual for Knip not to sign a finished work. She suggests that the artist may have worked on the present lot together with his son August (1819-1861) or his brother Mattheus Derk (1785-1810). However, the composition is very typical of Josephus Augustus Knip, and the present lot was no doubt executed after his journey to Italy in 1809-12. His earliest dated picture of that time is from 1815. The painted views of Lake Albano with the Castello Gandolfo and the Sabine Mountains near Terni, both dated 1816, sold in these Rooms, 17 November 1994, lot 116, are similar in style to the present lot. Some of Knip's pictures of 1817-8 show similarly composed landscapes (E. Bergvelt, M. van Boven, J.A. Knip 1777-1847, exhibition catalogue, 's Hertogenbosch, 1977, pp. 133-41, nos. 73-9, illustrated). During his journey to Italy, Knip executed a number of studies of figures in similar regional Italian costume, such as that sold in these Rooms, 15 November 1993, lot 191.