RKD STUDIES

Schiedam, between 1 January 1620 and 22 January 1621–Amsterdam, buried 28 March 1673 in the Nieuwe Kerk
Dutch painter, draughtsman and printmaker

Adam Pijnacker (also known as Pynacker) was born near Rotterdam to a prosperous family of merchants. A merchant himself, he never registered with the Guild of St Luke. He visited Italy probably between 1645 and 1648, but was not a member of the Schildersbent, the association of Dutch and Flemish artists in Rome. No drawings from this Italian period have survived. Between 1649 and 1653 he is recorded in Delft, where he was associated with his cousin Adam Pick (1621/2–58/66), innkeeper, wine merchant, painter and art dealer. Probably in 1661 he moved to Amsterdam, where he remained for the rest of his life.

There are some difficulties in establishing the chronology of Pijnacker’s work because he only dated six or seven of his paintings. While the earliest of these is of 1650, it is known that he was active in the 1640s because paintings by him are recorded in inventories. His early work borrows elements from painters including Paulus Potter (1625–54) and Ludolf de Jongh (1616–79), but is mainly influenced by the Italianate landscapes of Jan Both (1615/22–52). Over time his compositions become increasingly dramatic. He largely concentrated on scenes of the area around Rome, chiefly painting rivers, harbours and countryside. He worked on projects for wealthy middle-class patrons, for instance for the Herengracht mansion of Cornelis Backer in Amsterdam, but also for the Brandenburg court’s hunting lodge in Lenzen (1654–5).

LITERATURE
Bol 1973, pp. 258–61; Sutton 1984a, pp. 113, 394; Harwood 1988; Harwood 1994; Harwood 1996b; Schatborn 2001, pp. 178–83, 212; Harwood 2002, p. 165; Veldman 2018a; Van der Veen 2019d; Ecartico, no. 6157: http://www.vondel.humanities.uva.nl/ecartico/persons/6157 (April 10, 2017); RKDartists&, no. 65168: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/65168 (April 10, 2017).

1
Wybrand de Geest (I)
Portrait of Adam Pijnacker (1620/21-1673 ), 1660 (dated)
Leeuwarden, Fries Museum, inv./cat.nr. 665

c. 1653–4; oak panel, 43.8 x 52.7 cm
Signed indistinctly above lily leaves, lower right: APijnacker (AP in ligature)

PROVENANCE
C.-A. de Calonne sale, London, 26 March 1795 (Lugt 5289), lot 46 (‘Pynacker – A Landscape with a Bridge and Cattle, a fine clear pleasing picture’), sold or bt in £33 12s; Bourgeois Bequest, 1811; Britton 1813, p. 30, no. 309 (‘Unhung / no. 40, Landscape with Bridge; Travellers passing over P[anel] Pynaker’; 2'1" x 2'5").

REFERENCES
Cat. 1817, p. 10, no. 165 (‘SECOND ROOM – East Side; A Landscape, with Figures crossing a Bridge; Pynaker’); Haydon 1817, p. 386, no. 165;¹ Cat. 1820, p. 10, no. 165; Buchanan 1824, i, p. 231, no. 46 (‘Pynaker – Landscape with a Bridge and Cattle. A fine clear pleasing picture 31 [guineas]’); Cat. 1830, p. 8, no. 150; Smith 1829–42, vi, (1835), p. 292, no. 17;² Jameson 1842, pp. 466–7, no. 150;³ Denning 1858, no. 150 (Simon van der Does; ‘Formerly attributed to Adam Pynaker’); Denning 1859, no. 150 (Pynacker; ‘Some however have attributed it to Simon Van Der Does (1653–1717))’; Sparkes 1876, p. 130, no. 150;⁴ Richter & Sparkes 1880, p. 115, no. 150; Richter & Sparkes 1892 and 1905, p. 48, no. 183; Cook 1914, p. 117, no. 183; HdG, ix, 1926, pp. 539–40, no. 74; Cook 1926, p. 110; Cat. 1953, p. 32; Paintings 1954, pp. 10, [60]; Reiss 1975, p. 176, under no. 133 (Cuyp; ill.); Wright 1976, p. 160; Blankert 1978/1965, p. 186, under no. 106; Murray 1980a, p. 98; Murray 1980b, p. 22; Harwood 1985, p. 486 (col. pl. 2); Harwood 1988, p. 61, no. 32 (fig. VIII; c. 1653); Belsey 1991 (fig.); Harwood 1996b, p. 755; Beresford 1998, p. 189; Shawe-Taylor 2000, pp. 60–61; Wheelock 2001a, p. 210 (note 4), under no. 44 (Cuyp; A. Rüger); Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, pp. 150–51; RKD, no. 52757: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/52757 (April 3, 2017).

EXHIBITIONS
London 1952–3, p. 57, no. 285; NG, London, Oct.–Nov. 1980;⁵ London 1991a, pp. 12–15, no. 4 (L. B. Harwood); Williamstown/Sarasota 1994–5, pp. 48–9, no. 6 (L. B. Harwood; 1653–4); Bath 1999, n.p., no. 7 (A. Sumner); Madrid/Bilbao 1999, pp. 134–5, no. 32 (I. Dejardin); Houston/Louisville 1999–2000, pp. 184–5, no. 63 (D. Shawe-Taylor); London 2002, pp. 166–7, no. 41 (L. B. Harwood; c. 1653); Williamsburg/Fresno/Pittsburgh/Oklahoma 2008–10, pp. 82–3, no. 27 (I. A. C. Dejardin).

TECHNICAL NOTES
Two-member oak panel, with horizontal grain. The verso edges are bevelled, and there is a thin layer of wax or size on the reverse. This work is thinly painted for the most part, with some thicker, richly detailed areas in the foliage and clouds. The impasto in these areas is low but in many cases quite sharp. This paint surface is well preserved, with only a few areas of damage or deterioration. There is a (retouched) diagonal scuff in the left of the sky above the birds, and a few other small retouchings in the sky. The dark brown shadows in the lower right and in the water are slightly abraded, and there are some small areas of thin paint on the bank below the animals. Previous recorded treatment: 1980, conserved, National Maritime Museum, S. C. Wakelin.

RELATED WORKS
1) Copy: Bridge in an Italian Landscape, canvas, 58.2 x 74.3 cm. Present whereabouts unknown (formerly Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, S 568; photo RKD).⁶
2) Copy: Ralph Cockburn, Crossing the Bridge, c. 1816–20, aquatint (Cockburn 1830, no. 12) [2].⁷

This bucolic scene depicts an idealized Italy where simple, happy peasants enjoy the end of a beautiful day. Laurie Harwood rightly emphasized Pijnacker’s debt to Jan Both, and proposed a date of 1653/4: ‘Everything from the overall composition to the treatment of light and the representation of trees and foreground foliage can be directly associated with Both’s Campagna views.’⁸ What distinguishes the two, however, is Pijnacker’s clear, atmospheric, raking light, and his use of localized colour. Furthermore, compared with Italian Landscape with a Bridge (DPG219) [3] by Herman van Swanevelt (c. 1603–55) it is evident that, while the landscape is beautifully executed, Pijnacker preferred to allow the figures to dominate and energize their environment. The main subject of the painting is their lives in this magical, Virgilian, setting.

The picture is first documented in the collection of the French politician and collector Charles-Alexandre Calonne (1734–1802), a friend of Noel Desenfans. In 1789 Calonne had mortgaged his collection to Desenfans in order to fund his support for a counter-revolutionary coup in France. When this failed, Desenfans and his business partners foreclosed and placed the works for sale in 1795. In the meantime, however, Desenfans had sold his share of Calonne’s collection, and he or Bourgeois presumably acquired Bridge in an Italian Landscape at this juncture.

Agnew’s in 1949 valued this picture at £400 (the cheapest of the sixteen Dulwich paintings then assessed was an Adriaen van de Velde at £100, and the most expensive Rembrandt’s Girl at a Window at £33,000).

DPG183
Adam Pijnacker
Bridge in an Italian Landscape, c. 1653-1654
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery, inv./cat.nr. DPG183

2
Ralph Cockburn after Adam Pijnacker
Crossing the Bridge, 1816-1820
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery

3
Herman van Swanevelt
Italian landscape with a stone bridge, dated 164[.]
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery, inv./cat.nr. DPG219

c. 1661–5; canvas, 137.8 x 198.7 cm
Signed, bottom centre right: APijnacker (AP in ligature)

PROVENANCE
Collection of Cornelis Backer, Amsterdam, before 1681; by descent to Cornelia Backer: her sale, Leiden, 16 Aug. 1775 (Lugt 2436), lot 4;⁹ bt Delfos for ƒ1,310; Diderick, Baron van Leyden sale, Paris (Delaroche), 7 Nov. 1804 (Lugt 6841, 6852, and 6864), lot 75;¹⁰ bt Paillet for 3,500 frs [=£140]; Bourgeois Bequest, 1811; Britton 1813, p. 25, no. 249 (‘Small Drawing Room / no. 2, Landscape, group of figures returning from Hunt – C[anvas] Pynaker & Berghem’; 5'7" x 7'8").

REFERENCES
?Poem by Pieter Verhoek in Houbraken 1718, ii, pp. 97–9 (see main text); Cat. 1817, p. 6, no. 62 (‘FIRST ROOM – East Side; Sportsman, with Dogs and Game; Pynaker and Berchem’); Haydon 1817, p. 375, no. 62 (Adam Pynaker);¹¹ Cat. 1820, p. 6, no. 62 (Pynacker and Berchem); Patmore 1824b, p. 23, no. 71;¹² Cat. 1830, p. 8, no. 130 (Pynacker and Berchem); Smith 1829–42, vi (1835), p. 294, no. 28;¹³ Jameson 1842, ii, p. 463, no. 130 (Pynaker; figures by Berghem);¹⁴ Denning 1858 and 1859, no. 130 (Pynacker);¹⁵ Lejeune, ii, 1864, p. 499 (a Landscape with figures painted by Berghem); Sparkes 1876, pp. 129–30, no. 130;¹⁶ Richter & Sparkes 1880, p. 115, no. 130;¹⁷ Havard & Sparkes 1885, p. 216, no. 130 (‘a first-rate work’); Richter & Sparkes 1892 and 1905, p. 22, no. 86; Cook 1914, pp. 49–50, no. 86;¹⁸ HdG, ix, 1926, p. 525, no. 9 (and also perhaps p. 539, no. 72 – decoration in the house of C. Backer, Amsterdam); Cook 1926, p. 47; Gerson 1953b, pp. 34, 51 (as fully signed); Cat. 1953, p. 32; Paintings 1954, pp. 9, [60]; Plietzsch 1960, p. 136; Clifford & Clifford 1968, p. 153 (under no. D 134, Related works, no. 3b); Binney 1970, p. 233, fig. 8; Goldberg 1978, p. 271 (under no. 208, Related works, no. 3b); Wright 1978, p. 158; Murray 1980a, pp. 97–8; Murray 1980b, p. 22; Duparc 1980, p. 68, under no. 132; Sutton 1987a, pp. 44–5 (fig. 59); Harwood 1988, pp. 31–3, 92–3, no. 77 (fig. 77; colour plate xvi); Fleischer 1989, p. 57, fig. 59; Duparc & Graif 1990, p. 142 (note 2), under no. 42; p. 158, under no. 49 (Related works, no. 2f; fig. 56); Harwood 1996b, p. 756 (fig. 2); Beresford 1998, p. 189; Diercks 2010, pp. 26 (fig.), 56; Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, pp. 152–3; RKD, no. 52752: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/52752 (April 3, 2017).

EXHIBITIONS
London 1824, p. 14, no. 81 (Pynacker and Berghem); London 1952–3, p. 85, no. 445; London 1976, p. 68, no. 83 (C. Brown); Amsterdam/Boston/Philadelphia 1987–8, pp. 44–5 and pp. 399–400, under no. 66 (A. D. Chong); Williamstown/Sarasota 1994–5, pp. 32–3, fig. 31 (L. B. Harwood); Madrid/Bilbao 1999, pp. 136–7, no. 33 (I. Dejardin); Houston/Louisville 1999–2000, pp. 186–7, no. 64 (D. Shawe-Taylor); London 2002, pp. 174–5, 217 (note 36), no. 45 (L. B. Harwood); Williamsburg/Fresno/Pittsburgh/Oklahoma 2008–10, pp. 80–81, no. 26 (I. A. C. Dejardin).

TECHNICAL NOTES
Plain-weave linen canvas, BEVA-lined; the original tacking margins are absent. The image of the original stretcher is still visible on the surface. Blanching is notable in some of the greens of the right middle distance and white speckling is visible in other parts. Technical analysis identified the presence of green earth, yellow ochre, natural ultramarine and smalt in the blanched area. Similar mixtures have been found in other paintings of the period with blanching, including those of Claude Lorrain. The leaves in the foreground are now blue due to the loss of a glaze or the fading of a fugitive yellow pigment. Some of the dark areas have increased in transparency, and are thin and abraded with a brown appearance due to the discolouration of a copper green pigment. It is likely that the red glaze of the pink flowers in the left foreground has faded to some extent. There are pentimenti around the head of the figure blowing the horn and in the upper branches of the trees. Previous recorded treatment: 1911, lined, Holder; 1935, frame and stretcher treated with paraffin; 1967, relined with wax, J. C. Robinson; 1980, surface cleaned and varnished, National Maritime Museum, J. Green and C. Hampton; 2000, some small losses consolidated before loan, S. Plender; 2001–2, relined with BEVA, T. Cumin; cleaned and restored, S. Plender; 2002, technical analysis carried out, L. Sheldon and C. Gray.

RELATED WORKS
1) Ludolf de Jongh, A Huntsman with his Servant and Hounds in a Landscape, panel, 51.5 x 61.5 cm. Present whereabouts unknown (Sotheby’s, 16 April 1997, lot 9, with further provenance) [4].¹⁹
2a) Adam Pijnacker, Landscape with Huntsmen, c. 1658, canvas, 190.5 x 190.5 cm. National Trust, Attingham Park, Shrewsbury, NT 608996 [5].²⁰
2b) Adam Pijnacker, A Dog lying with a Dead Deer, oil on paper, 257 x 311 mm. Amsterdam Museum, Fodor Collection, TA10372.²¹
2c) Adam Pijnacker, Italianate Landscape with a Waterfall and Fishermen, signed APynacker (A P in ligature), c. 1665–70, canvas, 297 x 270 cm. BvB, Rotterdam, 1685.²²
2d) Adam Pijnacker, Hilly Landscape at Evening, c. 1665–70, canvas, 303 x 267 cm. BvB, Rotterdam, 1686.²³
2e) Adam Pijnacker, Landscape with a Silver Birch, signed APynacker (AP in ligature), canvas, 82 x 70.5 cm. The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla., SN 896.²⁴
3a) Thomas Gainsborough, Study of Burdock Leaves, black chalk, 138 x 186 mm. BM, London, 1910,0212.256 [6].²⁵
3b) Partial copy: John Crome, Silver Birches, signed J. Crome (possibly autograph), c. 1814–15, watercolour and bodycolour, 248 x 200 mm. Norwich Castle Museum, 112.936.²⁶
3c) Copy: Liz Charsley-Jory, Landscape with Sportmen and Game, 2011–12, oil pastel, 70 x 50 cm. Whereabouts unknown.²⁷

Long one of the most popular paintings at Dulwich, and a key work in Pijnacker’s œuvre, Landscape with Sportsmen and Game is one of his larger compositions, and a superb example of his mature style. Laurie Harwood proposed a date for it of c. 1661–5. Pijnacker’s pictures of the 1660s are characterized by bright colours set against a cooler tonality, a harder style, and an interest in ambiguous space with sudden transitions between foreground and middle ground, all of which are present here. The vibrant leaves in the foreground demonstrate the use of localized colour, even if with the passage of time their fugitive yellow pigment or loss of a glaze has left them blue. Another characteristic feature is the overlapping and twisting trees with the amazing white bark of the birches (cf. Related works, no. 2e).

What is particularly impressive is the way Pijnacker has managed to make the small group of figures in the centre of the picture dominate their expansive environment. Of particular interest is the defecating dog in this group, which as Harwood noted is derived from another in a landscape by the Rotterdam artist Ludolf de Jongh, painted in the 1650s (Related works, no. 1) [4]. The dog also appears in Pijnacker’s Landscape with Huntsmen of c. 1658 at Attingham Park (Related works, no. 2a) [5]. Pijnacker probably prepared his motifs by making drawings and oil sketches, such as one in the Fodor Collection (Related works, no. 2b). There is a tradition of debate about the authorship of the figures: starting with the 1813 inventory, they were thought to be by Nicolaes Berchem (1621/2–83), which seems unlikely; other candidates have included Abraham Hondius (1630/32–91) and Johannes Lingelbach (1622–74). Denning in 1858 assigned them to Pijnacker, and in the end modern connoisseurship has agreed with him.

Hofstede de Groot suggested that the Dulwich picture may have been in the collection of Cornelis (or Kornelis) Backer ( Schepen, Raadt en Bewindhebber der Oost-Indische Maatschappy, te Amsterdam), who was an important man in the city government of Amsterdam and a governor of the Dutch East India Company. It is quite possible that it formed part of the decorative scheme of his house at Herengracht 548 in Amsterdam, completed in 1665.²⁸ In that case DPG86 would have one of the earliest provenances for a Pijnacker painting. Other works by him thought to have been owned by Backer are the pendants Landscape with Waterfall and Hilly Landscape at Evening now in Rotterdam (Related works, nos 2c, 2d): these are however much larger. It has also been suggested that the picture is referred to in a poem on the decoration of that house by Pieter Verhoek, brother of Gijsbert Verhoek, who was one of Pijnacker’s pupils. Houbraken subsequently included the poem in his brief account of Pijnacker’s life. In part, it runs:

I imagine that I am already walking through the joyful wilderness
Of luxuriant herbs, and listening to the rustle of leaves.
All that delights the eye smiles charmingly at us here.
PYNAKKER’s artful brush thus challenges tapestries,
Which hang paralyzed, stiff and hard, in short their colours worn out;
Just as this man’s existence causes bitter envy to fade.
Here can Heer Backer, when the trees are devoid of leaves
And the barren field is overwhelmed with dunes
Of drifting snow, contemplate these leafy crowns,
The green of the foliage, a Summer for the eye.
Here, worn out by cares of state, he can unstring
His bow, reveling in their contemplation.²⁹

Laurie Harwood has doubted the association of DPG86 with the poem, which seems to describe a summer scene, while hunting is an autumnal activity;³⁰ and moreover it seems too small to decorate a room.³¹ Despite these incongruities, it seems quite possible that DPG86 was part of the decoration of Backer’s in Amsterdam. In any case the poem gives an indication of the expectations of Pijnacker’s audience: a picture of an ideal Italian landscape, serving as an aid to relaxation for the busy official or merchant.

Pijnacker was one of the Dutch Italianates who inspired later British artists, including Thomas Gainsborough (1727–88; Related works, no. 3a) [6] and John Crome (1768–1821; Related works, no. 3b). In 1949 Thomas Agnew and Sons valued DPG86 at £3,000 (the cheapest of the sixteen Dulwich paintings then assessed was an Adriaen van de Velde at £100, and the most expensive Rembrandt’s Girl at a Window at £33,000).

DPG86
Adam Pijnacker
Landscape with Sportsmen and Game, c. 1665
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery, inv./cat.nr. DPG86

4
Ludolf de Jongh
Huntsman with his servant and hounds in a landscape, c. 1655

5
Adam Pijnacker
Landscape with Huntsmen, c. 1658
Shrewsbury (Shropshire), Attingham Park, inv./cat.nr. NT 608996

6
Thomas Gainsborough
Study of Burdock Leaves
London (England), British Museum, inv./cat.nr. 1910,0212.256