Lot 588: Salomon van Ruysdael (Naarden c. 1600-1670 Haarlem)

A river landscape with cattle and a rowing boat in the foreground, Alkmaar and the Sint Laurenskerk beyond signed and dated 'S.VRUYSDAEL 1651' (VR linked, lower left, on the rowing boat) oil on panel 211/4 x 31 3/8 in. (54.1 x 79.7 cm.) PROVENANCE Sir Emmanuel Felix Agar, M.P., 7 Stratford Place, London. Beriah Botfield (1807-1863), by 1848, by whom bequeathed to the Thynne family. LITERATURE B. Botfield, Catalogue of Pictures in the possession of Beriah Botfield Esq. at Norton Hall, London, 1848, p. 46, 'View of Haerlem'. B. Botfield, Catalogue of Pictures at Norton Hall, London, 1863, p. 35. W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, Berlin, 1975, p. 150, no. 523B. NOTES The artist joined the Haarlem guild of Saint Luke in 1623 under his given name Salomon de Gooyer. Soon after, he followed the example of his eldest brother Isaack and adopted the name Ruysdael from the castle of Ruijschdaal near their father's home in Gooiland. He quickly established his reputation in the 1630s, along with Jan van Goyen, as one of the pioneers of the so-called 'tonal' landscape, innovative for the unprecedented naturalism and atmospheric effects they brought to the genre. The river landscape was Salomon's favourite subject and one that he addressed repeatedly throughout his career. He first treated the theme in or before 1631 and subsequently produced, according to Stechow ( op. cit. ), some 280 paintings of the kind. The present work is a classic mature treatment of the river landscape theme. Salomon employs a strong diagonal composition established by the flow of the river from the left foreground into the right background, with a cluster of trees serving as a repoussoir on the right side, balanced by a group of cattle on the left. The placement of boats at intervals along the river leads the eye downstream out of the shaded foreground towards the sunlit horizon. This, combined with the effect of the churches of Alkmaar that punctuate the horizon on the left, produces an strong sense of distance and spatial harmony. This clear structure characterises much of the artist's work from around this time. By 1650, the trees in his landscapes are reduced in scale and greater emphasis given to open river views; his palette becomes brighter and more varied and more attention is paid to the clouds. This is wonderfully evidenced here in the fluid rendition of the late afternoon sky. Stechow records four other pictures with the same date: a River Scene in the Royal collection, Buckingham Palace, a Landscape with Arnhem in the distance in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, a Sailing boat and Dinghy sold in these Rooms, 25 November 1960, lot 82, as 'van Goyen', and a View of Rhenen now in the E.G. Bhrle Foundation, Zurich. The variety of cities depicted (Arnhem, Rhenen and Alkmaar), might suggest that Salomon was travelling in 1651. Although he lived in Haarlem his whole life it is thought that he made extensive trips around the country; he also painted views of Leiden, Amersfoort and Utrecht at different times in his career. However, in 1651 Salomon is recorded as a merchant dealing in blue dye for Haarlem's bleacheries - like many of his contemporaries, he supplemented his earnings in areas that had no connection with painting - making it unlikely that he would have had the time to travel in that year. More likely, Salomon worked up these pictures in his studio either from memory or using topographical prints as an aide memoir. This notion is supported by the fact that many of his pictures from the late 1640s and 50s were applied directly onto the support without evidence of underdrawing, as seems to be case in the present picture, although no technical photographs of it have been made. In any event, a View of the Sint Laurenskerk, dated 1644, sold in the Rooms, 10 July 1987, lot 44, implies that Salomon had visited Alkmaar in or before that year. Panoramic views of Alkmaar are comparatively rare and it is noteworthy that Van Goyen never painted the city. The present view seems to have inspired a picture of about the same size painted six years later ( ibid. pp. 23 and 128, no. 376, pl. 27 and fig. 38), since sold in these Rooms, 8 July 1988, lot 44 (œ110,000). Sir Emmanuel Felix Agar was the natural son of Welbore Ellis Agar (1735-1805). His father, the younger brother of the 1st Viscount Clifden and elder brother of the 1st Earl of Normanton, assembled in his lifetime a prodigious collection of Old Masters. These were largely acquired abroad, for the most part under the aegis of Gavin Hamilton. On his death, having no direct heir, he bequeathed the collection to Emmanuel Felix and his elder brother, Welbore Felix. Those two put the collection up for sale at Christie's; the sale was scheduled for 2-3 May 1806, however before even the English copies of the catalogue were printed, the brothers had been approached by Lord Grosvenor with a view to an en bloc purchase. An initial price of œ40,000 was suggested but was negotiated down to the final figure of 30,000 gns., agreed by mid-April. The present picture was not a part of that sale, making it quite reasonable to suppose that the two sons may have retained a small part of the collection, including this picture.