Lot 5: GUILLAM DUBOIS 1610 - 1680 HAARLEM

A LANDSCAPE WITH FIGURES ON A TREE-LINED PATH, A WINDMILL BEYOND

A LANDSCAPE WITH FIGURES ON A TREE-LINED PATH, A WINDMILL BEYOND

measurements note
32.9 by 36.2 cm.; 13 by 14 1/4 in.

bears signature lower left: JVRuisdael (JVR in monogram)
inscribed in an old hand on the reverse: G.Sz.m and brushed with an old collector's mark: VPCL (in ligature)

oil on oak panel

PROVENANCE

Rolin Robert Collection;
With Edward Speelman, London;
From whom acquired by the late father of the present owners in 1960.

NOTE

Little is known about Guillam Dubois, who worked in Haarlem in the tradition of Jacob van Ruisdael. His distinctive landscapes are characterised by an air of detachment and melancholy, in which the figures are dominated by the moody landscape that they fleetingly inhabit. Like so many of the artist's landscapes, this composition is constructed around a broad sweeping curve with figures on a path, a sunlit view beyond (compare, for example, a landscape by the artist, signed and dated 1653, sold New York, Sotheby's, *******).

We are grateful to Drs. Marijke de Kinkelder for endorsing the attribution to Guillam Dubois on the basis of a photograph (written communication, 8 March 2006).