Lot Essay
George Keyes has, on the basis of a photograph, kindly confirmed the attribution. He did not know the drawing when publishing his article (Cornelis Claesz. van Wieringen, Oud Holland, The Hague, 1979, pp. 1-46), which included a Provisional checklist of Drawings by the artist. Two drawings in the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam are most closely comparable to the present drawing (Keyes, op.cit.. p. 25, nos. 3 and 4, p. 41, figs. 51 and 62). Both include a fortified building with a way leading up to it on a crag in the water at the right, connected to the land by a bridge, with shipping nearby. Keyes' no. 3 also shows a gate with steps leading to the water, while his no. 4 includes comparable figures on the beach near a small boat. As Keyes observes, the present lot and the two Amsterdam show the influence of Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) when compared to the latter's landscapes in Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden; Teyler's Museum, Haarlem and the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans (E.K.J. Reznicek, Die Zeichnungen von Goltzius, Utrecht, 1961, nos. 396-6 and 399, illustrated). The present drawing is also similar to the series of thirteen prints by Claes Jansz. Visscher after Van Wieringen dated 1613 (Hollstein XXXVIII, p. 149, nos. 327-40, Simon 71-84, illustrated Hollstein XXXIX, pp. 132-8).