Salomon van Ruysdael

Presumably Charles Jennens (1700-1773), Ormond Street, London (see Dodsley, 1761);
By inheritance to Penn Assheton Curzon (1757-1797);
By descent to his third (but eldest surviving) son, Richard William Penn (1796-1870), later 1^st Earl Howe (2^nd creation);
By descent until Francis Richard Henry Penn Curzon (1884-1964), 5th Earl Howe, CBE, PC, VD, Penn House, Amersham, Bucks.;
His sale, London, Christie's, 7 December 1933, lot 68, for 620 gns. to Ellis and Smith;
With Ellis and Smith, London;
Anonymous sale ("The Property of a Deceased's Estate"), London, Christie's, 9 July 1999, lot 30, where purchased by the present owner.

Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Hidden Treasures, 27 July - 17 October 1993, p. 38, no. 50.

(Presumably) R. and J. Dodsley, London and its Environs described, London 1761, vol. V, p. 93 (as "a landscape, by Salomon Ruysdale or 'A landscape, by Sal. Ruysdale'');
The Illustrated London News, 11 November 1933, p. 776;
W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, Berlin 1938, p. 107, cat. no. 342;
W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, 2^nd, revised edition, Berlin 1975, p. 120, cat. no. 342;
C. Whistler, C. White, and R. Baird, Hidden Treasures, exhibition catalogue, Oxford 1993, p. 38, no. 50, reproduced p. 37.

 

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work on panel is made from two pieces of wood joined horizontally in the center. The join has not become active on the surface and thus there are no retouches associated with it. There is a crack that does not seem to be an original join which runs the length of the panel in the water at the bottom and there are restorations associated with this crack. The restorations are few and far between throughout the rest of the picture with only a small concentration in the sky above the rooftops on the right side. The painting should be hung as is.
"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."

Barely a breath of wind disturbs this tranquil river setting. Three fishermen lazily cast their net to the far bank where an accomplice draws it in; beyond them a peasant family tends its small herd in front of a lofty dwelling. Farther still sailboats, their sails filled with only the merest hint of a breeze, are tied to a pier and in the very far distance a large town, possibly Alkmaar,¹ emerges from the summer haze. High above in the rich azurite sky, long, horizontal, pink-tinted clouds are compelled from left to right by a summer breeze that has however ceded all but the feeblest vestiges of life by the time it reaches the silvery water below.

Salomon van Ruysdael painted a number of river landscapes in the 1640s that are composed according to a similar scheme: a diagonal receding gently to the right, with trees on the river bank massed to the left, forming a natural repoussoir, often with low buildings in the center, and small vessels on the horizon visible at the extreme right.  Frequently, as here, a leaning post or a floating barrel anchors the lower right corner.  Ruysdael was using a broadly similar compositional scheme earlier than this, as early indeed as 1632, but by the mid-1640s such river landscapes became more monumental, and because of the natural sense of order within them, more tranquil.  An excellent example, similar to the present picture, is the River Landscape of 1645 in a private collection.²  The vast skies are dominant, here relegating the horizon to the lower fifth of the picture surface, thus allowing Ruysdael to explore to the fullest his fascination with passing weather conditions. They, too, are governed by a far richer palette than those of the preceding decade.

His riverbank trees, generally willows, usually lean towards the center of the composition, so that if they are at the left, they lean towards the right, and vice versa.  Like his nephew, Jacob van Ruisdael, Salomon was attuned to the seasons and to the weather conditions of his native land and consequently, when he paints trees leaning away from the prevailing wind, he paints skies that show the clouds moving in the same direction: in the present picture, although undisturbed at this precise moment by any wind, they thus lean from left to right.

Provenance
Charles Jennens (1700-1773) was best known for his close association with George Friedrich Handel, with whom he worked on the libretto for The Messiah.  He formed a major collection of Old Masters for his London house. He also patronized such contemporary painters as Francis Hayman, and owned the celebrated portrait of Handel by Sir Thomas Hudson, now in the National Portrait Gallery, London.  He left his estate to Penn Assheton Curzon, the son of his niece, Esther, and Assheton, 1^st Viscount Curzon. This Penn married Charlotte Sophia Waller, Baroness Howe, and their third and last surviving son, Richard William Penn, succeeded to the Howe earldom. The collection was largely dispersed by his descendant, the 5^th Earl, at Christie's in 1933.  While diverse in scope, the cornerstone of the collection was the Dutch pictures: a classic Aelbert Cuyp, an outstanding Frans Hals, and major works by Adriaen van Ostade.  His landscapes included works by Hobbema, Salomon van Ruysdael (two), and Jacob van Ruisdael (five).  

 

1.  The large church seems to be the Sint Laurenskerk. In a work also dated 1644 Ruysdael depicts the church from the same angle, although from a much nearer viewpoint; sold New York, Sotheby's, 24 January 2008, lot 20.
2.  See P.C. Sutton, Masters of 17th-Century Dutch Landscape Painting, exhibition catalogue, Boston 1988, pp. 471-2, no. 93, reproduced, and in color plate 47.