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Lot Essay
Although traditionally admired - Hofstede de Groot wrote that he 'must be considered among the great painters of the seventeenth century' - Isaac van Ostade's painted oeuvre has not been studied in great depth by scholars in recent years. Indeed the catalogue of his work by Hofstede de Groot published in 1910 remains the fundamental study of his paintings. Hofstede in his catalogue lists over three hundred and fifty paintings by the artist, although this includes duplicated entries, in part due to the repeated subject types. That this oeuvre was the product of some ten years of activity in Haarlem gives an idea of the concentrated intensity of the artist's brief career, for he was to die at the age of twenty-eight in 1649.
The appearance of his work on the market is relatively rare. This was also the case in the early part of the 19th century, when many more Old Masters were available for sale, to the extent that John Smith, the dealer and connnoisseur, commented in 1829: 'Pictures of the first quality by this master are exceedingly rare, and proportionally high in price.' Smith later described this picture as 'a most excellent production' (op. cit.).
This panel was owned by Edward Loyd (mistakenly called Edmund Lloyd by Smith) a partner in the banking house founded by his elder brother, Lewis Loyd (1768-1858) of Overstone Park, and his taste seems to have been influenced by that of the latter's son, Samuel Jones Loyd, Lord Overstone (1786-1865), who formed an outstanding collection of Dutch and other pictures.
B. de Geus van den Heuvel (1886-1976) formed a notable collection of pictures for his home in Nieuwersluis, Holland. He started buying in the mid-1930s and continued to acquire Dutch and Flemish pictures of all periods. His collection was sold in its entirety at Sotheby Mak van Waay, Amsterdam in 1976.
We are grateful to Dr. Bernhard Schnackenburg for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs, dating this winter landscape to the second half of the 1640s and noting that it 'belongs to the finest works by Isaac van Ostade in this genre' (personal communication, 7 June 2011).
The appearance of his work on the market is relatively rare. This was also the case in the early part of the 19th century, when many more Old Masters were available for sale, to the extent that John Smith, the dealer and connnoisseur, commented in 1829: 'Pictures of the first quality by this master are exceedingly rare, and proportionally high in price.' Smith later described this picture as 'a most excellent production' (op. cit.).
This panel was owned by Edward Loyd (mistakenly called Edmund Lloyd by Smith) a partner in the banking house founded by his elder brother, Lewis Loyd (1768-1858) of Overstone Park, and his taste seems to have been influenced by that of the latter's son, Samuel Jones Loyd, Lord Overstone (1786-1865), who formed an outstanding collection of Dutch and other pictures.
B. de Geus van den Heuvel (1886-1976) formed a notable collection of pictures for his home in Nieuwersluis, Holland. He started buying in the mid-1930s and continued to acquire Dutch and Flemish pictures of all periods. His collection was sold in its entirety at Sotheby Mak van Waay, Amsterdam in 1976.
We are grateful to Dr. Bernhard Schnackenburg for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs, dating this winter landscape to the second half of the 1640s and noting that it 'belongs to the finest works by Isaac van Ostade in this genre' (personal communication, 7 June 2011).