Jan Josefsz. van Goyen

Anonymous sale, London, Philips, 11 October 1954, lot 221 (for £540);
With Duits, London;
Alfred Brod, 1958.

London, Alfred Brod Gallery, Autumn Exhibition of Dutch and Flemish 17th Century Masters, 13 October - 19 November 1955, no. 6;
Providence 1964, no. 9;
New York, Finch College 1966, no. 13:
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, temporary loan, 1972;
Birmingham 1995, no. 8;
New Orleans, 1997, no. 23;
Baltimore 1999, no. 20.

Burlington Magazine 97 (November 1955), p. V, reproduced;
London, Alfred Brod Gallery, Catalogue of the 1955 Autumn Exhibition of Dutch and Flemish 17th Century Masters, 13 October - 19 November 1955, cat. no. 6, reproduced plate II (as 'oil on paper');
Perspex, "Current Shows and Comments Art Among the Nations", Apollo 62 (November 1955) p. 130;
H.U. Beck, "Jan van Goyen: The Sketchy Monochrome Studies of 1651" in Apollo 71 (June 1960), pp. 177-78, cat. no. 8, reproduced fig. II;
Providence 1964, cat. no. 9;
New York, Finch College 1966, cat. no. 13, reproduced;
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, temporary loan, 1972;
H.U. Beck, Jan van Goyen 1596 - 1656, ein Oeuvreverzeichnis, Amsterdam 1973, vol. II, p. 122, no. 250, reproduced; 
New Orleans 1997, pp. 53-54, cat. no. 21, reproduced;
Baltimore 1999, pp. 52-53, cat. no. 20, reproduced.

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 paper is well adhered onto the wooden panel. The paint layer is very dirty and there is no reason that the work should not be cleaned. Under ultraviolet light, a couple of retouches may be visible in the upper sky. Although one expects pictures of this period to show some retouches once they are cleaned, it seems likely that the bulk of this paint layer is in beautiful condition. The condition seems to be exceptional for a work on paper.
"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 remarkable oil sketch, a rarity in Van Goyen’s oeuvre, forms part of a cohesive series of "sketchy monochrome" works all made in 1651, when the artist lived in The Hague.¹   As expressed by Beck in his 1960 article, the Weldon panel is a "delightful little Van Goyen oil sketch, almost featureless save for a group of figures against a vast sky," and is painted with wonderful, vigorous brushstrokes.

In his article, Beck grouped together a number of panels which are painted in the same free technique--almost entirely monochrome, brown in brown, using just delicate energetic tones of yellow, shades of brown, white.  The pictures in the group are of roughly the same small size, showing dune, sea and river landscapes.  Van Goyen placed some reddish-brown dashes of paint in the figures to give them a stronger presence and definition, as can be observed in the central figure group of the Weldon sketch. These sketches, created as paintings in their own right, rather than studies, were produced at the height of Van Goyen’s most creative, final period which lasted from circa 1640 to his death in 1656.  When one talks of Van Goyen’s impressionistic style one refers mainly to these oil studies of 1651.  

  

1.  Beck lists circa 33 oils on paper, either laid down on panel or canvas in later centuries and almost all datable to 1651 (see Beck 1973, vol. II, pp. 120 – 131, nos. 248 - 271e, some reproduced). He names them as ‘sketchy monochromes’ (see Beck 1960).
2.  Beck 1960, p. 177.