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ABRAHAM BLOEMAERT | Landscape with four gnarled trees and two resting women
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 EUR
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Description
- Bloemaert, Abraham
- Landscape with four gnarled trees and two resting women
- Pen and brown ink and wash, heightened with white, on eight sheets of paper, joined and laid down;bears numbering in graphite on the mount, lower right: 227
- 194 x 262 mm
Provenance
Paris, collection particulière ;
Acquis en 2000.
Acquis en 2000.
Exhibited
Rennes, 2012, n°29 (notice par Jaap Bolten)
Literature
J. Bolten, 'The Drawings of Abraham Bloemaert, a Supplement,' Master Drawings, vol.55, n°1, 2017, p.102, n°A60*, fig.329
Condition
As described in the note, the drawing is composed of some eight different sheets of paper, joined together and laid down. The whole composite sheet is in turn laid down on a 19th-century-style mount. Some light foxing and surface dirt, but overall condition good and fresh. Media are good and strong. Sold unframed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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."
Catalogue Note
As Jaap Bolten has described in his Rennes catalogue entry for the drawing, this sheet is a fascinating ‘collage’, consisting of six different drawings of trees and figures, all autograph works by Bloemaert, which have been cut out and cleverly stuck down to form a single, unified composition. Working across the composition from right to left, perhaps the first sheet to be stuck down onto the shared backing is the one on which are drawn the two trees to the right. Next to this, and slightly overlapping with the right hand sheet, is another, on which is drawn the short, double tree stump in the bottom centre part of the composition. Moving further to the left are two figures of peasant women with baskets, each drawn on a separate sheet, and at the left edge is a sheet consisting of most of the tall tree to the left. The uppermost section of that tree’s foliage is, finally, on another small piece of paper, and the entire sheet is completed with a very narrow strip running all the way along the top edge, and another small section in the bottom left corner.
Although all the individual elements of the drawing are certainly by Bloemaert, it is hard to see why he himself would have gone to the trouble of making this collage, and Bolten has, very reasonably, proposed that the composite sheet may have been assembled in Bloemaert’s studio, possibly by his son Frederik, to serve as the model for one of the many prints of landscapes and trees that he made from his father’s designs. Indeed, the motif of the two knotted trees to the right, which seems to be based on a rapid sketch by Abraham of the same trees, executed in black chalk and pen and brown ink and now in the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts in Los Angeles1 (fig. 1), also appears, in reverse, as the main element in Frederik’s print after Abraham’s design, Traveller and his dog resting at the foot of a large tree.2
Printmaking was a central element in Bloemaert’s art, and the many works in this medium that he produced over the course of his lengthy career were not only extremely popular and widely collected, but also had an immense influence on a whole generation of artists in the Netherlands and beyond. Bloemaert’s landscape prints and drawing are particularly accomplished and atmospheric, standing as a fascinating bridge between the more formulaic mannerism of artists of the previous generation, such as Hans Bol, and the very down-to-earth, naturalistic approach of early 17th-century Dutch masters such as Esaias van de Velde.
1. Inv. 1988.9.387; J. Bolten, Abraham Bloemaert c.1565-1651, The Drawings, Leiden 2007, vol. I, p. 347, no. 1483, reproduced vol. II, fig. 1483
2. M. Roethlisberger, Abraham Bloemaert and his sons, Paintings and Prints, Doornspijk 1993, vol. I, p. 307, no. 473, reproduced vol. II, fig. 655
Although all the individual elements of the drawing are certainly by Bloemaert, it is hard to see why he himself would have gone to the trouble of making this collage, and Bolten has, very reasonably, proposed that the composite sheet may have been assembled in Bloemaert’s studio, possibly by his son Frederik, to serve as the model for one of the many prints of landscapes and trees that he made from his father’s designs. Indeed, the motif of the two knotted trees to the right, which seems to be based on a rapid sketch by Abraham of the same trees, executed in black chalk and pen and brown ink and now in the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts in Los Angeles1 (fig. 1), also appears, in reverse, as the main element in Frederik’s print after Abraham’s design, Traveller and his dog resting at the foot of a large tree.2
Printmaking was a central element in Bloemaert’s art, and the many works in this medium that he produced over the course of his lengthy career were not only extremely popular and widely collected, but also had an immense influence on a whole generation of artists in the Netherlands and beyond. Bloemaert’s landscape prints and drawing are particularly accomplished and atmospheric, standing as a fascinating bridge between the more formulaic mannerism of artists of the previous generation, such as Hans Bol, and the very down-to-earth, naturalistic approach of early 17th-century Dutch masters such as Esaias van de Velde.
1. Inv. 1988.9.387; J. Bolten, Abraham Bloemaert c.1565-1651, The Drawings, Leiden 2007, vol. I, p. 347, no. 1483, reproduced vol. II, fig. 1483
2. M. Roethlisberger, Abraham Bloemaert and his sons, Paintings and Prints, Doornspijk 1993, vol. I, p. 307, no. 473, reproduced vol. II, fig. 655