Lot 12: *DIRCK VAN DER LISSE (ACTIVE 1639-1669)

oil on canvas Dirk van der Lisse began his career as an apprentice to Cornelis van Poelenburgh who had returned to Utrecht in 1627, after nearly a decade in Italy. Poelenburgh was the first Dutch painter whose training and development took place in Italy where, as Luigi Salerno, has observed ``he succeeded in reconciling the realistic tradition with the classical ideal, thus becoming the initiator of a highly individual style and the founder of a school'' (see L. Salerno, Pittori di paesaggio del Seicento a Roma, 1977/8, vol. I, p. 224). His Arcadian scenes, with gracefully posed nymphs and satyrs among ruins, all set in an Italianate landscape, quickly caught the imagination of van der Lisse. While other of Poelenburgh's pupils tried mainly to imitate his style, van der Lisse developed the genre further. His approach to landscape became far grander, and he introduced a new degree of sopistication and polish in his treatment of the figures, which may readily be perceived in the present painting. All its elements are unified by a golden, hazy light reminiscent of Jan Both who had returned to Holland from Italy by 1646 and whose work may also have been an influence on van der Lisse.

George Rushout Bowles, 3rd Lord Northwick, Northwick Park, Gloucestershire, before 1887, thence by descent to Captain E.G. Spencer-Churchill in 1912 Lady Spencer Churchill (Sale: Christie's, London, November 5, 1965, lot 103, as by Cornelis Poelenbur