Abraham Govaerts

Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Christie's, 12 June 1990, lot 226, for 345,000 guilders;

Where acquired for the Grasset Collection.

F.G. Meijer, Brueghel to Canaletto, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection, exh. cat., San Diego 2016, p. 23, reproduced in colour fig. 18;

S. Thomas, A Feast for the Eyes, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection, exh. cat., Saint Petersburg, Florida 2019, pp. 50–51 and 98, no. 20, reproduced in colour.

San Diego, The San Diego Museum of Art, Brueghel to Canaletto, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection, 2 April – 2 August 2016;

Saint Petersburg, Florida, Museum of Fine Arts, A Feast for the Eyes, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection, 23 March – 2 September 2019, no. 20.

This well-preserved forest landscape is a characteristic example of Abraham Govaerts' mature style, combining his interest in depictions of provincial life and native countryside. Small groups of figures form clusters of colour dotted throughout the composition, skillfully drawing the viewer deeper into the verdant landscape populated by a variety of birds and animals. In the foreground, a group of peasants rests beneath a tree beside a horse-drawn cart from which they might have alighted. Through a clearing in the background the artist depicts the walls and spires of a distant town. This work is a celebration of rural life in Flanders, inviting the viewer to muse upon the charms of country life beyond the walls of crowded cities.

The majority of Govaerts' works were painted during the Twelve Years' Truce (1609–21), a ceasefire during the Eight Years' War between the Dutch Republic and Spain, which ultimately led to its recognition as an independent sovereign nation by other European States.¹ During this period, Govaerts pioneered the genre of forest landscape introduced by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568–1625) and Gillis van Coninxloo (1544–1607), specialising in late summer luxuriant landscapes which often include a diminutive historical, mythological or biblical subject, or a hunting scene. Although the figures in Govaerts' landscapes were often the result of collaboration with other painters, such as Frans Francken the Younger (1581–1642) and Hendrick van Balen (1574–1632), the staffage here is probably by his own hand. 

¹ U. Härting and K. Borms, Abraham Govaerts: der Waldmaler (1589–1626), Essen 2003, p. 25.