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Lot Essay
This charmingly idiosyncratic depiction of a pair of falconers before a village landscape is a wonderful example of Abel Grimmer’s art. In paintings like this, Abel continued the successful formula invented by his father and teacher, Jacob Grimmer. Together, the Grimmers specialised in small landscapes, often, as here, sets of the Four Seasons or the Months of the Year on small, circular panels.
Though unknown to Reine de Bertier de Sauvigny, this fully signed and dated panel is a variant of a composition known in at least two further examples. The earliest of these is a slightly smaller circular panel dated ‘1601’ which de Bertier de Sauvigny catalogued as Autumn from the Four Seasons (see R. de Bertier de Sauvigny, Jacob et Abel Grimmer, Brussels, 1991, p. 212, no. XXXV). That painting exhibits a number of differences from ours. These include the addition of a horse-drawn carriage on the path at left and a pig, perhaps a reference to the upcoming laying-in of provisions during winter, in the lower foreground. A second panel of approximately similar size to ours dated '1606' depicts the month of September. It once formed part of a partially disbursed series of the Months of the Year commissioned between 1604 and 1606 by the Plantin-Moretus family of Antwerp printers (see De Bertier de Sauvigny, op. cit., no. XLI, fig. 106). As with the panel of 1601, a carriage is seen at left, though in this instance travelling in the opposite direction, while the man throwing a stick for his dog has been moved to the left of the couple on horseback.
Though unknown to Reine de Bertier de Sauvigny, this fully signed and dated panel is a variant of a composition known in at least two further examples. The earliest of these is a slightly smaller circular panel dated ‘1601’ which de Bertier de Sauvigny catalogued as Autumn from the Four Seasons (see R. de Bertier de Sauvigny, Jacob et Abel Grimmer, Brussels, 1991, p. 212, no. XXXV). That painting exhibits a number of differences from ours. These include the addition of a horse-drawn carriage on the path at left and a pig, perhaps a reference to the upcoming laying-in of provisions during winter, in the lower foreground. A second panel of approximately similar size to ours dated '1606' depicts the month of September. It once formed part of a partially disbursed series of the Months of the Year commissioned between 1604 and 1606 by the Plantin-Moretus family of Antwerp printers (see De Bertier de Sauvigny, op. cit., no. XLI, fig. 106). As with the panel of 1601, a carriage is seen at left, though in this instance travelling in the opposite direction, while the man throwing a stick for his dog has been moved to the left of the couple on horseback.