Roelandt Savery

Dr. Hans Wetzlar (d. 1970), Amsterdam;
With Jülius Böhler, Munich;
Acquired by Max Michel Forell, Christmas 1958;
Thence by descent to the present owner.

In overall very good condition. The copper plate is flat and stable, the paint surface is relatively clean and the varnish is clear and marginally discoloured. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals very little intervention, save for a short, fine, horizontal line of retouching, measuring less than 3 cm., in the lowest branches of the central, silhouetted tree. There are a handful of minor spot retouchings in the trunk of the tree, right. Offered in a plain stained wood frame in very good condition.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The present work is datable to circa 1609, during Savery’s decade-long sojourn in Prague working at the court of Emperor Rudolf II. Artistic life at Rudolf’s court was marked by the personal quality of his patronage and by the mutual influence of a small but diverse circle of protégés, including such painters as Bartholomeus Spranger and Hans von Aachen, as well as access to the greatest Kunst- and Wunderkammer of the day. In circa 1606-1607, Rudolf sent Savery on an expedition to the Tyrol to record the wonders of its landscape. The resultant drawings of mountains, fantastic rock formations, waterfalls and a variety of flora and fauna, are among the earliest interpretations of these natural phenomena, which Savery enhanced in the studio and used as reference material for his subsequent landscape paintings. The present work is similar in composition and size to two pairs of paintings, both on copper and dated 1608, one in the Niedersächsische Landesgalerie, Hannover, and one which sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 22 April 2015, for $430,000.¹

1. See J. Mullenmeister, Roelant Savery, Freren 1988, pp. 76, 211-13, cat. nos 46 and 47, reproduced pp. 210 and 211.