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Lot Essay
Philips Wouwerman was one of the greatest artists to have specialised in equestrian subjects, and riders halting on their travels in Italianate landscapes was one of his favourite themes. This scene takes place in a hilly landscape where travellers are resting beside a stream, crossed by a rickety bridge. Four of them are still on horseback but two have dismounted, one feeding his horse and another about to take a swim. The classical statue standing out against the horizon, the diffused golden light and the sloping mountains in the hazy distance reinforce the impression of the Roman campagna. Although Wouwerman never actually travelled to Italy, he is known to have obtained a large number drawings and sketches by Pieter van Laer, the doyen of Bambocciante painting, and his impact on Wouwerman's art, as well as that of other Italianate painters such as Jan Asselijn, is felt strongly in the present work.
The rarity of dated works by Wouwerman has hindered a detailed assessment of his development. However, the various configurations of his signature do provide some clue as to date, with the monogram in our painting known to have been mainly in use after 1646 (see F.J. Duparc, ‘Philips Wouwerman, 1619-1668’, Oud Holland, CVII, no. 3, 1993, p. 261). Birgit Schumacher dates the present painting to around 1655 (loc. cit.), a period in Wouwerman's career marked by a particularly successful synthesis of genre and landscape elements.
Baron James de Rothschild (1792-1868) founded the Rothschild bank in France in 1817. The Château de Ferrières in the vicinity of Paris, built in the 1850s, became the centre of family life and entertaining for James and Betty de Rothschild (1805-1886) along with their home in the centre of Paris. Both Baron James and his eldest son Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1827-1905) were great art collectors. Collecting became a family tradition, with future generations becoming custodians of these treasures while also deepening the breadth of their holdings. As Baron Alphonse de Rothschild’s posthumous inventory of 1905 illustrates, the collection included several Wouwerman paintings.
Baron Édouard de Rothschild inherited the Wouwerman from his father Alphonse. In June of 1940, Édouard, his wife, Germaine, and their youngest daughter Bethsabée, fled France for New York to escape persecution by the Nazi regime. Shortly thereafter, their entire assets including their private collection would be seized, among which the Wouwerman. After the war, Édouard de Rothschild registered the painting as missing with the French Commission for Art Restitution (Commission de Récuperation Artistique), the agency set up in France to locate and recover looted cultural property. While most of the Rothschild collection was recovered in the post-war period, notably through the efforts of Monuments Woman Rose Valland (1898-1980), some artworks remain missing.
Please note that the present work is being offered for sale pursuant to a settlement agreement between the current owner and heirs of Baron Édouard de Rothschild (1868-1949). The settlement agreement resolves the dispute over ownership of the work and title will pass to the successful bidder.
The rarity of dated works by Wouwerman has hindered a detailed assessment of his development. However, the various configurations of his signature do provide some clue as to date, with the monogram in our painting known to have been mainly in use after 1646 (see F.J. Duparc, ‘Philips Wouwerman, 1619-1668’, Oud Holland, CVII, no. 3, 1993, p. 261). Birgit Schumacher dates the present painting to around 1655 (loc. cit.), a period in Wouwerman's career marked by a particularly successful synthesis of genre and landscape elements.
Baron James de Rothschild (1792-1868) founded the Rothschild bank in France in 1817. The Château de Ferrières in the vicinity of Paris, built in the 1850s, became the centre of family life and entertaining for James and Betty de Rothschild (1805-1886) along with their home in the centre of Paris. Both Baron James and his eldest son Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1827-1905) were great art collectors. Collecting became a family tradition, with future generations becoming custodians of these treasures while also deepening the breadth of their holdings. As Baron Alphonse de Rothschild’s posthumous inventory of 1905 illustrates, the collection included several Wouwerman paintings.
Baron Édouard de Rothschild inherited the Wouwerman from his father Alphonse. In June of 1940, Édouard, his wife, Germaine, and their youngest daughter Bethsabée, fled France for New York to escape persecution by the Nazi regime. Shortly thereafter, their entire assets including their private collection would be seized, among which the Wouwerman. After the war, Édouard de Rothschild registered the painting as missing with the French Commission for Art Restitution (Commission de Récuperation Artistique), the agency set up in France to locate and recover looted cultural property. While most of the Rothschild collection was recovered in the post-war period, notably through the efforts of Monuments Woman Rose Valland (1898-1980), some artworks remain missing.
Please note that the present work is being offered for sale pursuant to a settlement agreement between the current owner and heirs of Baron Édouard de Rothschild (1868-1949). The settlement agreement resolves the dispute over ownership of the work and title will pass to the successful bidder.