Jan Griffier the Elder is best known for his Rhenish capriccios in the style of Herman Saftleven, often, like this one, on copper supports. His winter landscapes are much more rare but they are equally distinctive. Together with Rhenish capriccios and London views, several winter landscapes are among the sixteen works by Griffier, most on copper plates of identical size to the present one, acquired by Prince Eugene of Savoy, probably shortly after the death of the painter in 1718, and which remain today displayed together in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin, comprising an impressive manifesto of Griffier's genius as a landscapist (fig. 1).
Griffier was a constant traveller and spent many years from 1667 onwards in London. He clearly liked boats, living on one on the Thames, from which he painted views of London, and from 1695 onwards living on another, traversing the inland waterways of Holland, according to his biographer Arnold Houbraken.1 Returning to London, he continued to paint prospects of landmarks on copper often, as here, from a high viewpoint yielding a panorama, including a view of Hampton Court Palace donated by Felix Davies to Tate Britain. He died in 1718 not far from the future site of the Tate, in a house on Millbank – on dry land, but within sight of the Thames.
Note on Provenance
From 1842 onwards, the Vienna industrialist and banker Josef Winter assembled an impressive picture collection, which included works by contemporary artists such as Von Amerling, as well as Old Masters of the Italian, French and Dutch and Flemish schools. His acquisitions from the collections of the architect Von Grünauer, which included this Griffier, along with works by Jan Steen, Frans Hals, Jan van der Heyden and other Dutch 17th-century masters and a Batoni Magdalene, took place between 1848 and 1851. He bequeathed his collection to his daughter Baroness Auguste Stummer von Tavarnok, under whose name, thanks in part to Von Frimmel's 1895 catalogue, it became better known.
1 A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, Amsterdam 1718–21, vol. 3, pp. 357–60.