8/23/13

Meindert Hobbema (Amsterdam 1638-1709) | A wooded landscape with a hunter and other figures on a path

MEINDERT HOBBEMA (AMSTERDAM 1638-1709)

A WOODED LANDSCAPE WITH A HUNTER AND OTHER FIGURES ON A PATH

Lot 43 / Sale 6979

Price Realized 1 50,850 ($2 7 8,3 1 8)

Sales totals are hammer price plus buyers premium and do not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyers or sellers credits.

Estim ate 1 50,000 - 2 50,000 ($2 7 6 ,7 50 - $4 6 1 ,2 50)

Sale Informat ion Sale 6 9 7 9 OLD MASTER PICTURES 7 July 2 004 London, King Street Lot Descript ion Meindert Hobbem a (Am sterdam 1 6 3 8-1 7 09 ) A wooded landscape with a hunter and other figures on a path signed 'm hobbem a' (lower left) oil on panel 1 2 x 1 5 7 /8 in. (3 1 .1 x 4 0.3 cm .) Special Not ice No VAT will be charged on the ham m er price, but VAT at 1 7 .5% will be added to the buy er's prem ium which is inv oiced on a VAT inclusiv e basis Pre-Lot Text THE PROPERTY OF THE LATE JOHN LEAVETT-SHENLEY, SOLD BY ORDER OF THE EXECUTORS (lots 4 3 , 4 4 and 67 ) Provenance Mrs. M.H.O. Stuart, from whom acquired by Sabin. with Sabin, London. Goldstein collection; Sotheby 's, London, 2 6 July 1 9 3 3 , lot 4 4 . with Thom as Agnew & Sons, London, from whom acquired by the fam ily of the present owner. Lit erat ure G. Broulhiet, Meindert Hobbema, Paris, 1 9 3 8, p. 4 2 0, no. 3 1 9 , illustrated p. 2 6 1 .
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8/23/13

Meindert Hobbema (Amsterdam 1638-1709) | A wooded landscape with a hunter and other figures on a path

Lot Not es This is an autograph v ersion of the painting in the Detroit Institute of Arts. Such repetitions are not uncom m on in Hobbem a's oeuvre, for exam ple the four v ersions of the Wooded landscape with a cottage in the National Gallery , London; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Mauritshuis, The Hague; and that form erly in the Robarts collection. It is thought that m any of the sm aller-scale v ersions are in effect detailed studies for subsequent, large pictures (as, for exam ple, the Stream by a Wood in the National Gallery , London, is for the painting in the Museum Boijm ans-Van Beuningen, Rotterdam ); no such larger-scale work is known or recorded for the present picture, but that one once existed rem ains a possibility . A later copy of the com position is also recorded (Broulhiet, op. cit. , p. 4 2 0, no. 3 1 6 ). The subject m atter - a road leading through a wood with cottages am ongst the trees - is archety pal of the artist's work. It is thought that he com posed his idy llic v iews in the studio by re-arranging and juxtaposing fam iliar m otifs and ideas. Here, the pathway leading the ey e into the painting, and then the rough x-design of the trees carry ing it around the com position. Both dev ices at the sam e tim e prov ide a sense of depth and space that is further enhanced by the judicious placem ent of areas of dark and light, by the use of scale in the figures, and the high, billowing clouds rising in the back of the landscape. Highly effectiv e, it is found in v ary ing degrees in m any others of Hobbem a's works - for exam ple the Road winding past cottages of circa 1 6 6 7 -8 in the National Gallery , London - contrasting directly with his other principle dev ice of a double v anishing point. Hobbem a worked as a y oung m an in the studio of Jacob v an Ruisdael but by the early 1 6 6 0s had ev olv ed his own m ode of expression, hav ing em erged from his m aster's shadow. Hobbem a's interpretation of his nativ e landscape presents a gentler side of nature to Ruisdael's occasionally som bre and brooding works. His palette, com posed of characteristic greens, y ellows, grey s and browns, is softer and lighter, suggestiv e of details that caused John Sm ith to write of the artist: 'Whatev er em anated from his pencil bears the true im press of nature, under her m ost engaging aspect; whether the rural scene presents the unripe freshness of the v ernal season, or the v aried foliage of m ellow autum n' (J. Sm ith, A Catalogue Raisonn, etc., VI, London, 1 83 5, p. 1 1 1 ). Extraordinary though it m ay appear with hindsight, giv en his stature as one of the best-lov ed of all Dutch landscapists, Hobbem a's achiev em ents as a painter seem not to hav e attracted the plaudits in his lifetim e that hav e subsequently been awarded to him . It was traditionally believ ed that this was due to his hav ing greatly decreased his output by the end of the 1 6 6 0s, hav ing been appointed in 1 6 6 8 to the post of wine-gauger to the Am sterdam octroi - a m inor salaried position that he held until his death, and which inv olv ed the superv ision of the weighing and m easuring of im ported wines. His powers, howev er, rem ained undim inished as is ev ident from the late date 1 6 89 - of execution of his m ost fam ous landscape, the Avenue at Middelharnis in the National Gallery , London. The rev iv al of Hobbem a's reputation began in England in the m id-eighteenth century . The great landscapists of British art adm ired his pictures; Gainsborough held his work in great affection - he probably becam e fam iliar with him early in his career in the 1 7 4 0s, when he worked on restoring Dutch landscapes - and was influenced by him , as was the succeeding generation of British landscapists including m ost notably Constable and Turner. Not surprisingly it was in England, therefore, that the collecting of Hobbem a's work also grew apace during these y ears, culm inating in 1 850 at The Hague when Richard Sey m our-Conway , 4 th Marquess of Hertford, paid what was then a record price for a landscape when he bought The Water Mill (London, Wallace Collection) for 2 7 ,000 florins. Regist er t o Bid: Please register online at www.christies.com or contact the Christie's Bid Departm ent at: NY: + 1 2 1 2 6 3 6 2 4 3 7 London: + 4 4 (0)2 0 7 3 89 2 6 58 Monday -Friday , 9 am -5pm local tim es

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8/23/13

Meindert Hobbema (Amsterdam 1638-1709) | A wooded landscape with a hunter and other figures on a path

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