Roelandt Savery

Possibly Sir Robert D'Arcy Hildyard (d. 1814), Hildyard, Winestead, Yorkshire;
Thence by descent;
Anonymous sale, (“The Property of a Gentleman”), London, Christie’s, 10 April 1981, lot 37;
David Koetser, 1983.

New Orleans 1997, nos. 49a and 49b;
Baltimore 1999, nos. 48a and 48b.

Cologne/Utrecht, Roelant Savery in seiner Zeit (1576-1639), exhibition catalogue, Cologne 1985, p. 85, under cat. no. 9 (as with David Koetser);
T.DaCosta Kaufmann, The School of Prague, Painting in the Court of Rudolf II, Chicago 1988, p. 236, under cat. no. 19.22;
K.J. Mullenmeister, Roelant Savery, Freren 1988, pp. 76, 211-213, cat. nos. 48 and 48A, and under cat. no. 49, reproduced p. 212;
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Prague um 1600, Kunst und Kultur am Hofe Rudolfs II,  exhibition catalogue, Essen 1988, pp. 259-60, under cat. no. 144;
E. Fucikova, ed., Rudolf II and Prague, the Court and the City, exhibition catalogue,  Prague 1997, pp. 401-2, under cat. nos. I.63 and I.64;
New Orleans 1997, pp. 125-128,  cat. nos. 49a and 49b, reproduced pp. 126-127;
Baltimore 1999, pp. 112-115, cat. nos. 48a and 48b, reproduced pp. 112-113;
S. Bartilla, in Roelandt Savery, A Painter in the Services of Emperor Rudolf II, exhibition catalogue, Prague 2010, p. 280, under cat. no. 32/a.

The following condition report has been provided by Karen Thomas of Thomas Art Conservation LLC., 336 West 37th Street, Suite 830, New York, NY 10018, 212-564-4024, info@thomasartconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This pair of oils on copper are in a beautiful state of preservation. The artist appears to have delighted in painting minute details such as tiny birds scattered throughout the sky and trees, miniscule textural highlights on the tree trunks, thread-like branches crossing the sky, and frolicking animals described with a few deft strokes of paint, all of which remain in excellent condition. Tiny, insignificant losses — restored and clearly visible under ultra-violet illumination — are limited in number: a few are found around the perimeter of the Alpine Landscape with Torrent and Hunter, while the majority of the losses in Alpine Landscape with Three Hunters are clustered around the bottom of the painting, in the grassy foreground. A few bare branches in the Three Hunters have been reinforced with retouching. In the same panel, points of retouching in the sky address stains left by an old restoration. The small copper panel supports are in excellent condition; a waxy coating has been applied to the reverse of each. These pictures were recently restored and are in no need of further intervention.
"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."

This pair of dramatic mountainous landscapes is datable to circa 1608, during Savery’s decade-long sojourn in Prague working at the court of Emperor Rudolf II.  In circa 1606-1607, Rudolf sent Savery on an expedition to the Tyrol to record the “curious marvels of nature."¹  There he made drawings of mountains, fantastic rock formations, waterfalls and a variety of flora and fauna.  The drawings from this adventure served as inspiration for his subsequent landscape paintings.  In the Weldon pair, Savery has taken great care in rendering the different foliage of the deciduous trees and stately conifers, the twisted roots and broken trunks, and the water cascading over wondrous rock formations.  Savery brought many of his drawings back with him when he returned to the Netherlands and they had a significant influence on artists such as Gillis d’Hondecoeter and Allaert van Everdingen.  An album of Savery’s Tyrolian views was owned by Rembrandt and later acquired by Lambert Doomer, who made copies after them.

The present pair is very close in composition to two other pairs of paintings, both on copper and dated 1608, and of almost identical size, in the Niedersächsische Landesgalerie, Hanover and in a private collection, New York.²  The difference between those pairs and the Weldon pair resides mainly in the staffage.  In the Weldon versions, a single hunter is featured in the Landscape with Torrent, and a group of three hunters is depicted in the pendant.  The other pairs both depict peasant figures rather than a hunter in the torrent landscape, and a hermit in a rustic shelter is depicted in their pendant landscapes. 

A drawing by Savery (in horizontal format, signed and dated 1608) in the Fondation Custodia, Paris, is remarkably close to the Weldon Landscape with Three Hunters, particularly in the details at the left side, notably the positions of the three figures and the broken trees (fig. 1).  The drawing was used as a basis for an engraving made by Aegidius Sadeler in 1609 which was part of a cycle titled Six Mountainous Landscapes (in Tirol).³

1.  J. von Sandrart, Teutsche Academie der Bau-, Bild-und Mahlerey-Künste,  Nürnberg 1675-1680, p. 305.
2.  See T. DaCosta Kaufmann, under Literature, pp. 234-236, cat. nos. 19.19 – 19.22, reproduced.
3.  See S. Bartilla, under Literature, pp. 280-281, reproduced.