Lot 26: ANTHONIE VERSTRAELEN

PROPERTY FROM A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION GORINCHEM 1594 - 1641 AMSTERDAM WINTER SCENE WITH SKATERS AND KOLFERS ON THE ICE signed in monogram and indistinctly dated: AVS 16(3?)3 oil on panel 41 by 71 cm.; 16 1/8 by 28 in.

A native of Gorkum, Verstraelen's work was much indebted to that of Hendrick and Barend Avercamp, to whom his better work has often been ascribed. He settled in Amsterdam where in November 1628, at the age of thirty four, he married Magdalena Bosijn.1 Along with that of his contemporary, Arent Arentsz., called Cabel (c.1585-1658), his work is taken as evidence that Hendrick Avercamp must have returned to Amsterdam for at least a short period after 1613. Verstraelen's winter landscapes were typically composed like this, with figures of skaters and everyday folk arranged across the foreground plane, while behind them a frozen river or canal stretches through a village into the distance. A good example was sold Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 9 May 2006, lot 39. The banks of the river are, as here, typically occupied by humble country dwellings and Verstraelen's distinctive gnarled trees. Although the date seems to read 1603, which would clearly be impossible, the correct reading must be 1633. This dating is supported by dendrochronological analysis of the oak panel, which gives a likely felling date after 1627, and thereby a probable date of use from the very late 1620s or early 1630s. A similar problem with the reading of the date recurs with the Winter landscape in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, but this more probably dates from 1623.2 1. A.D. de Vries, 'Biografische aanteekeningen betreffende voornamelijk Amsterdamsche schilders, plaatsnijders, enz. en hunne verwanten' (VII), in Oud-Holland 4 (1886), p. 215-224. 2. See H. Hoetink (ed.), The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague 1985, p. 459, cat. no. 659.