Ships on a river with a village and a town beyond

As suggested by the inscription on the verso, this finely executed and well-preserved miniature waterolour probably had a pendant in a contrasting landscape by Van Everdingen, such as a winterscape. This unidentified pendant may have carried the artist’s usual monogram (as may be the case for numerous other drawings made in pairs or larger series; see, for instance, A.I. Davies, The Drawings of Allart van Everdingen. A Complete Catalogue, Including the Studies for Reynard the Fox, Doornspijk, 2007, nos. 377-379, ill.). The drawing was among the large number of sheets by Van Everdingen owned by members of the famous family collection Goll van Franckenstein (see Davies, op. cit., p. 26).