Lot 54: Peter Tillemans (Flemish, active England,

Peter Tillemans (Flemish, active England, 1684-1734), "A Squire on Horseback, at the Edge of a Hunt", oil on canvas, signed "P. Tillemans" lower left, 41 in. x 50 5/8 in., in a giltwood frame.

Provenance: The Grove, Tallahassee, FL.

Note: This is apparently one of an exact pair with a Tillemans picture of "A Young Squire on Horseback, with a Dog at Heel", sold at Sotheby's New York on 4 June 1993 as lot 16: the canvases are of identical size (this horseman moving from right to left, and the "Young Squire" from left to right), while details of the sky, horizon line, landscape, trappings and riders are so precise as to imply very strongly that these are pendant portraits. The provenance given by Sotheby's was from the Walter Hutchinson collection in Britain through Frost & Reed, Ltd., in London. Tillemans, the son of an Antwerp diamond cutter, was one of the first talented Flemish artists to paint the scions of the British landed classes, and won particular praise for his handling of horses.