Master Paintings Part II
Master Paintings Part II
Property from the Collection of David and Louise Carter
Jan van Kessel
A view of Gorinchem from the southwest
Lot Closed
January 30, 03:56 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from the Collection of David and Louise Carter
Jan van Kessel
Amsterdam 1641-1680
A view of Gorinchem from the southwest
oil on canvas
canvas: 21 by 25 5/8 in.; 53.3 by 65 cm.
framed: 26 1/2 by 31 1/4 in.; 67.3 by 79.3 cm.
His sale, Amsterdam, R.W.P. de Vries, 28 August 1820, lot 36 (as Eeckhout);
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Muller, 25-6 November 1913, lot 353 (as Joris van der Haagen);
August Janssen (d. 1918), Amsterdam;
With J. Goudstikker, Amsterdam, by November 1919 (inv. no. 1557) and until at least 1922;
Mrs. A. Janssen;
By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's Parke Bernet, 12 January 1979, lot 90:
There acquired.
Dessins de paysagistes Hollandais du XVIIe siècle de la collection particulière conservée à l'Institut Néerlandais de Paris, exhibition catalogue, Brussels, Rotterdam and Paris 1968-69, under cat. no. 48, p. 53;
A. W. F. M. Meij (ed.), Dessins flamands et hollandais du dix-septième siècle: Collections Musées de Belgique (exhibition catalogue), Paris 1974, under cat. no. 34, p. 50;
A. Davies, Jan van Kessel 1641-1680, Doornspijk 1992, cat. no. 18, pl. III and 18, pp. 126-28, reproduced.
In this remarkably elegant view, Gorinchem is seen from the south-west looking across the Merwede River, through a row of striking elm trees, the sun warm just starting to lower. One can make out a number of the city's distinct buildings including, from the left, the chapel of the St. Agnes convent, the Reformed Church (called the Groote Kerk), the clock tower of the old town hall, the tower of the St. George Civic Guard Company, and the custom house on the far right.
Though the painting has been attributed correctly to Jan van Kessel since it was in the Janssen collection in the early 20th century (see Provenance), it was previously connected to Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, presumably because of a drawing signed and dated by the artist of the same view, now in the Lugt Collection, Paris (inv. no. 93).1 Though the Eeckhout drawing and the Carter painting share a similar view, the exact vantage point is slightly further left in the painting than in the drawing and details such as the shrubs in the foreground differ.
A lost sketch of the west city wall of Gorinchem by the artist, in black chalk and gray wash, is described in an 1802 sale.2
1. https://www.pubhist.com/w9152
2. Amsterdam, Achtienhoven, 6 September 1802, no. D.41 "Gezigt langs de Vestmuur naar een der Stads Poorten te Gorinchem, verder de Kerktoren en verscheide Gebouwen; zonagtig met rood kryt en O.I. ink, door J.v. Kessel." See A. Davies, op. cit., pp. 128-9.