JOHAN LE DUCQ | Sportsmen Resting with their Hounds in a Rocky Landscape

Sir Frederick Adair, 1st Baronet Roe (1789-1866);
his posthumous sale, London, Christie's, 25 May 1867, lot 16 (as Weenix), for 17 Guineas to Smith;
Oswald Augustus Smith (1826-1902);
thence by descent

Inventory of the Property of Guy O. Smith at Shottesbrooke Park, 1928, vol. II ('The Principal Pictures / Mr Smith's Sitting Room / Sportsman and Dogs 44 x 34 By Weenix').

The canvas has a firm relining, the paint surface is slightly dirty and the varnish is discoloured and uneven. There is a rather pronounced network of craquelure through the sky. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals small retouchings in the sky, including to a horizontal line just above centre starting from the right margin and extending to the top of the far rocky outcrop. The foreground appears to remain largely untouched with just a handful of small retouchings including in the sleeve of the seated man’s coat, scattered in the lower right corner, and around the hind legs of the right-most dog. These have all discoloured and are also visible to the naked eye.
"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."

Several of the dogs in this painting reappear in works by Johan le Ducq, a painter and soldier from The Hague. A drawing in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, shows the dog lying on its back, turning its head to look back to the hunters here;¹ and the white dog in front of this, its head to its leg, is found in a painting now attributed to Le Ducq, sold Christie's, New York, 15 April 2008, lot 334. The dogs drinking at the pool in the present painting also find analogies in the signed and dated painting of 1656 by Le Ducq in the Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku, Gdansk.² We are grateful to Dr. Fred G. Meijer for proposing the attribution to Le Ducq following first-hand inspection of the painting.

^{1 Inv. no. RP-T-1883-A-258.
2 Inv. no. MI433.}