Joos de Momper

Anonymous sale, Cologne, Lempertz, 11 December 1989, lot 647;
Acquired there or shortly afterwards by the present owner.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar , who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The panel has a horizontal line of small square wooden inserts which are supporting a repaired horizontal split in the panel. This horizontal split is just visible under raking light but is secure and stable. Paint Surface The paint surface has a rather uneven varnish layer and revarnishing would be beneficial to ensure a more sympathetic surface coating. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows quite extensive retouchings which are almost exclusively in the sky. These certainly appear to be larger than is necessary and I would be confident that should they be removed, could be considerably reduced with more careful inpainting. The sun in the upper left of the composition has been strengthened around it's circumference. There is a retouching along the repaired horizontal split in the panel which is approximately 23 cm above the lower horizontal framing edge. These retouchings fluoresce very faintly but there may be older retouchings beneath the varnish layers which are not identifiable under ultra-violet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in reasonably good and stable condition, although it is difficult to be certain as to the extent of the retouchings applied in the past. The only work that might be required is revarnishing. Frame The black and gilded frame with decoration on the outer edge is in good and stable condition.
"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."

Such summer landscapes with harvesters, known in contemporary inventories as heykens - hay harvests - were clearly amongst De Momper's most popular picture types for he painted a very large number of them, of varying sizes, throughout the 1610s and '20s. Almost all follow the same compositional arrangement, with a hay or corn field set on gently rising ground above a valley floor. They too are often populated by the same figures: the man in the lower right, with scythe raised, wearing red breeches, white chemise and a wide-brimmed hat, is found in several other works such as the picture described by Benedict Nicolson as "one of the finest Joos de Momper's in existence", formerly at Locko Park.¹ Harvesting scenes had appeared in calendars since the Middle Ages, illustrating the labours of the months. This painting however, like most of De Momper's harvest scenes, does not specifically represent a month but could be generally regarded as an allegory of summer, as Ertz has also suggested.

De Momper's landscape is populated by a vast assortment of farm labourers. Men cut the tall corn with scythes while women bundle it, to be loaded onto the approaching cart. Three women cross the bridge to the farm, their rakes cast over their shoulders, and approach a shepherd herding his flock in their direction. In the stream beneath, sheep are washed and dipped and beside them under a tumbledown shelter, others have their coats sheared. Quite apart from allegorising summer, the picture glorifies country living for an urban class of patrons eager for a window into the rural idyll.

Though this painting was not known to Klaus Ertz when compiling his 1986 catalogue raisonné on the works of Joos de Momper, he subsequently confirmed the attribution prior to the 1989 sale. In his certificate, dated 6 July 1989, Ertz gives the staffage to Jan Brueghel the Elder.

1. Sold, London, Sotheby's, 6 December 1995, lot 36.