Joos de Momper Antwerp 1564-1635 and Jan Brueghel the Younger Antwerp 1601-1678

In the collection of the family of the present owner for at least thirty years.

K. Ertz, Josse de Momper the Younger, Freren 1986, pp. 264, 555, cat. no. 335, reproduced in colour p. 262, fig. 295, with the collaboration of Jan Breughel the Younger for the staffage.

The canvas has an effective relining. The paint surface is secure and under a yellowed varnish. To the naked eye no obvious damages are present. Some minor discoloured retouchings upper right can be made out. Under UV light scattered localised retouchings flouresce, though these are mostly small and cosmetic rather than structural. Two retocuhings upper centre and upper left are present as well as 2 small restored tears upper left. Offered in a carved wooden frame with minor knocks.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

As early as 1604 Karel van Mander, writing in his Schilderboek, praised Joos de Momper for 'painting landscapes excellently with a clever technique'. The present work affords a fine example of the innovative and distinctive style which made de Momper one of the most important landscape painters of the early 17th century.  The warm earthy tones of the village and the ochres and russet reds of the foliage suggest clearly that this landscape was intended as a representation of autumn, and they provide a dramatic chromatic contrast with the clear blue tones of the distant landcape and the city on the far horizon. The large scale of the present painting suggests it was intended as a subject in its own right rather than as part of a larger cycle of painting illustrating the Four Seasons. Ertz (see Literature) dates it to the 1620s. The staffage is, as Ertz suggests, probably by Jan Brueghel the Younger, who continued the very close relationship his father Jan Brueghel the Elder had had with de Momper up until his death in 1625.