Attributed to Herman van Swanevelt

From the Bussio Palace, (according to information provided by Ethel, 10th Lady Beaumont);
Sir Charles Henry Tempest (1834-1894), Broughton Hall,  Yorkshire;
By descent to his daughter Ethel Tempest, who married Miles Stapleton (1850-1895), 10th Lord Beaumont in 1893;
Thence by direct family descent. 

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The canvas is lined but the paint layer is raised and unstable. The frazzled, discoloured and degraded varnish has formed into an opaque layer obscuring many of the details. What can be noted are the discoloured dark retouchings scattered across the surface denoting earlier damage and paint loss; many of these are excessive, in my opinion. Further pin prick losses can be detected in the sky. When re-saturated much of the paint can be seen to be in good condition with well preserved impasto and texture. A significant tonal improvement would be achieved with the removal of the varnish."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Dr. Anne Steland, who has inspected this work in the original and who will be including it in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist, due to be published at the end of 2009,¹ has compared the composition, in reverse, to Swanevelt's drawing of an artist sketching by a watefall sold Amsterdam, Christie's, 11 November 1996, lot 69 and to a landscape with St. Rosalie attributed to Swanevelt in the Prado, Madrid.²  Given its dirty state Dr. Steland is unwilling to firmly attribute the painting to Swanevelt and includes it therefore under 'uncertain attributions'. On balance however she argues for an attribution in favour of the artist, dating it tentatively to Swanevelt's years in Rome during the 1630s.

A NOTE ON THE PROVENANCE:
The lozenge shaped frame labels (fig. 1) on a number of the Carlton Tower pictures are a reference to their Tempest provenance.  Much of the collection at Broughton Hall was labelled in this way during the nineteenth century prior to Ethel Tempest's marriage in 1893.

1. No. G3, 16 in the forthcoming publication.
2. no. G2, 48.