Maerten Ryckaert

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 5 June 2008, lot 14;
There acquired by the present owner.

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 painting has been restored and should be hung in its current state. Originally made from two pieces of oak joined horizontally through the center of the work, the reverse of the panel shows numerous small wooden supports to the original join and to another thin crack running directly below. Four aluminum runners have also been applied, which seem to help keep the work flat. The paint layer seems to be clean and varnished. Under ultraviolet light, one can see that although the original join across the center and the other smaller crack in the panel have received retouches, the remainder of the picture is mostly undamaged and unretouched. In the lower center in the lake to the immediate right of the three figures on the river bank, there is one restoration attending to what may be a loss of about 2 ½ by 1 inches. An old crack across the upper right corner has been repaired and retouched. There are a few very isolated small retouches in the sky. The pale blue far distance has become slightly thin, but all of the foreground and figures on both sides of the river are beautifully preserved.
"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 idyllic panoramic landscape reveals the influence of Paul Bril on Ryckaert's style, whose work Ryckaert would have seen in Rome during his sojourn in Italy between 1605 and 1610.  The present painting, with its gentle diagonals, low horizon, and subtle rendition of light, echoes Bril's work from his late Roman period when the artist had incorporated the classicizing elements of the landscapes of Annibale Carracci and Adam Elsheimer.  The chalky, hazy blues and brilliant emerald greens that dominate this composition are typical of Ryckaert's palette.  Particularly striking here are the deftly rendered figures.

We are grateful to Dr. Luuk Pijl for endorsing the attribution on the basis of images.