Lot 106: MAERTEN FRANSZ. VAN DER HULST

MAERTEN FRANSZ. VAN DER HULST LEIDEN CIRCA 1600 - AFTER 1645 A LANDSCAPE WITH WINDMILLS BY A WATERWAY Oil on panel oil on panel 60.4 by 68.5 cm.; 23 3/4 in by 32 3/8 in

G. Parthey, Deuscher Bildersaal, Verzeichnis der in Deutschland verhandenen Ölbilder verstorbener Maler aller Schülen, I, 1863, p. 722, as Aelbert Cuyp;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné, etc., II, 1909, p. 213, no. 714b, as Aelbert Cuyp, signed "A.Cuyp fec." with different measurements (22 by 30 in) and described as 'A flat landscape with a thunderstorm'.

Possibly Schaffgotsch Collection, Berlin, 1863;
Anonymous sale, Monaco, Christie's, 7 December 1990, lot 311, for FF 1,110,000, as Aelbert Cuyp (where listed as signed on the boat: A. Cuyp) ;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 13 December 1991, lot 5, as van der Hulst, for £30,000, where acquired by the present owners.

This dramatic and evocative landscape, traditionally attributed to Aelbert Cuyp, and indeed signed A. Cuyp until after it was sold at Christie's, Monaco in 1990 (see Provenance), was reattributed to Maerten Fransz. van der Hulst when sold in 1991. The attribution is due to Alan Chong, the senior specialist on Cuyp currently preparing a catalogue raisonné on the artist, who compares the present work to a signed landscape by van der Hulst discovered by H.U. Beck.υ1This picture, along with a group of other landscapes formerly given to Cuyp, joins the group now assigned to van der Hulst. Very little is known about Maerten Fransz. van der Hulst, one of the most distinctive of the van Goyen followers, except that he came from Leiden, had a short career (his dated paintings only known between 1639 to 1646) and that he was strongly influenced by his townsman Jan van Goyen.

The painting is sold with a photocopy of a certificate by Dr. Walther Bernt, dated 24 October 1960, as Aelbert Cuyp.


1. See H.U. Beck, Jan van Goyen, 1991, vol. 1V, pp.159 - 183 for comparable paintings by the artist.