Landscape with a Water-mill

Artist/Maker

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x w: Mått 20,5 x 25 cm h x w x d: Ram 46 x 51 x 7 cm

Inventory numberNM 371

Other titlesTitle (sv): Landskap med vattenkvarn Title (en): Landscape with a Water-mill

DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 49: Technical notes: The support consists of a small rectangular copper plate with a thickness of c.1mm. The plate has a high level of finish and is free of any clue as to manufacture such as hammer marks or rolls. Paint is applied in thin opaque layers with minimal brushmarking. Examination of the painting with infrared reflectography did not reveal any evidence of underdrawing. The painting is generally in good condition. An old but only slightly discoloured varnish layer is present. Abrasion is moderate throughout. Slight abrasion, wear and minor paint losses occur along all four edges. There are scattered small paint losses and small amounts of retouching, particularly in the sky at upper right. The painting underwent conservation treatment in 1933 and 1986. Provenance: Johan Gustaf Netzel, Stockholm, until 1867; bequeathed by J. G. Netzel in 1867; KM 1867, no. 19 (as Jan Brueghel I); KM 1861/1867, no. 1411. Bibliography: NM Cat. 1867, p. 25 (as Jan Brueghel I); Sander IV, p. 137; Göthe 1887, p. 36 (as Jan Brueghel I or his manner); Göthe 1893, p. 45; NM Cat. 1958, p. 30 (as Jan Brueghel I); Ertz 1984, p. 247 under no. 66; NM Cat. 1990, p. 59 (as manner of Jan Brueghel I). This small landscape painting depicts a country road with travellers in the foreground on the left, running alongside a river at the centre, with a watermill and a village in the middle distance. The present painting is a free copy derived from a painting in circular format that was on the New York art market in 1996, regarded by Ertz (1984) as an original composition by Jan Brueghel II done in the manner of his father, Jan I, and dated in the 1620s.1 A painting identical to the picture formerly in New York, probably an autograph replica, is in Luxembourg (Galerie municipal de Peinture).2 This painting copies the landscape, the watermill and other buildings – including one of Antwerp’s city gates – from the composition known through the Vienna and New York paintings. However, the staffage of figures and horse-drawn carts differs from the original composition and – the format of the present painting being rectangular rather than circular – the foreground landscape was somewhat extended, with the road now leading off to the left instead of at centre. The work of an unidentified 17th-century copyist, one of the innumerable such copies and pastiches produced for the Antwerp art market, this painting actually provides more of an interpretation than a straightforward copy of Jan II’s original. CF 1 Oil on wood, circular panel, 21 cm in diameter, sale, New York, Christie’s, 12 January 1996, lot 78; for which see Ertz 1984, no. 66, colour pl. 14. 2 Oil on wood, circular panel, 20.5 cm in diameter, Luxembourg, Galerie municipale de Peinture; see photograph on file at the RKD, The Hague. I 1958 års katalog över målerisamlingen som Jan Bruegel själv, nu Hans art. [End]

Motif categoryLandscape

Collection

MaterialCopper (Metal), Oil paint

TechniquePainting

Object category

Keyword