Lot Essay
Here Marten Ryckaert repeats a composition by his contemporary Paul Bril, which he while living and working in Rome. Bril’s painting of the scene recently resurfaced in a small auction in Crewkerne, Somerset, where it was acquired for the Rubenshuis, Antwerp. Before its reappearance on the art market, the composition was known through a painting by Willem van Haect of the celebrated collection of spice-merchant Cornelis van der Geest (Rubenshuis, Antwerp); in which a postage-stamp sized version can be seen. It was previously speculated that the present example could have been the one in Van der Geest’s kunstkamer.
Marten Ryckaert drew inspiration from Bril’s works on a number of occasions, particularly in the 1620s. At that time many of Bril’s works were being shipped from Rome to Antwerp for sale on the Dutch art market. Ryckaet painted at least two other variants of this subject, one which last appeared in an auction in Cologne in 1956, and another sold at Christie’s in Amsterdam on the 6th of June 1990 (lot 129). His small, jewel-like, imagined landscapes were highly regarded by his peers. In 1630, his friend Sir Anthony van Dyck painted his portrait, where Ryckaert is dressed as a king and seated on a throne.
We are grateful to Luuk Pijl for endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs (private communication, 14 November 2023).
Marten Ryckaert drew inspiration from Bril’s works on a number of occasions, particularly in the 1620s. At that time many of Bril’s works were being shipped from Rome to Antwerp for sale on the Dutch art market. Ryckaet painted at least two other variants of this subject, one which last appeared in an auction in Cologne in 1956, and another sold at Christie’s in Amsterdam on the 6th of June 1990 (lot 129). His small, jewel-like, imagined landscapes were highly regarded by his peers. In 1630, his friend Sir Anthony van Dyck painted his portrait, where Ryckaert is dressed as a king and seated on a throne.
We are grateful to Luuk Pijl for endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs (private communication, 14 November 2023).