Philips Wouwerman DPG77, DPG97
DPG77 – Halt at the Inn
c. 1642–3; oak panel, 43.8 x 61 cm
Monogrammed bottom right: PH W (PH in monogram)
PROVENANCE
?Marquis de Brunoy sale, Paris (Joullain fils), 2 Dec. 1776 (Lugt 2611), lot 34, bt Dubois, 5,405 livres (with DPG79?);1 Desenfans sale, Skinner and Dyke, London, 27 Feb. 1795 (Lugt 5281), lot 63 (‘P. Wouvermans – A Halt of Travellers Refreshing’; not presented as a pair with DPG79); Bourgeois Bequest, 1811; Britton 1813, p. 30, no. 306 (‘Unhung / no. 37, Landscape, figures, horses, cottage: comp to 36 [= Britton no. 305; DPG79] [no support mentioned] Wouvermans’; 2'3" x 2'9").
REFERENCES
Cat. 1817, p. 8, no. 129 (‘SECOND ROOM – West Side; Halt of Travellers at an Inn-Door; Wouvermans’); Haydon 1817, p. 382, no. 129;2 Cat. 1820, p. 8, no. 129 (‘Halt of Travellers at an Inn-Door’); Smith 1829–42, i (1829), p. 286, no. 309 (‘Now in the Dulwich Gallery, and worth 350 gs.’); Cat. 1830, p. 7, no. 125 (‘Landscape, with Figures’); Jameson 1842, ii, p. 462, no. 125;3 Waagen 1854, ii, p. 343, nos 1–2?;4 Denning 1858 and 1859, no. 125 (as companion to no. 126);5 Sparkes 1876, pp. 210–11, no. 125 (and 126);6 Richter & Sparkes 1880, p. 190, no. 125 (no pendant is mentioned);7 Richter & Sparkes 1892 and 1905, pp. 19–20, no. 77; HdG, ii, 1908, p. 373, no. 425 (signed with the early monogram; as pendant to DPG79 = HdG 293; Engl. edn 1909, p. 377); Cook 1914, pp. 43–4, no. 77; Cook 1926, p. 42, no. 77;8 Cat. 1953, p. 44; Wright 1976, p. 224; Murray 1980a, p. 140 (‘Apparently a pendant to 79’); Murray 1980b, p. 30 (probably a pendant to 79); Wright 1989, p. 268; Beresford 1998, p. 265 (not a pendant to 79); Schumacher 2006, i, p. 330, A 404, ii, pl. 375 (no pendant mentioned); Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, pp. 296–7, 307; RKD, no. 225958: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/225958 (March 17, 2018).
EXHIBITIONS
London 1952–3, p. 56, no. 279; London 1999b (no cat. no.; 1642/3); Williamsburg/Fresno/Pittsburgh/Oklahoma 2008–10, pp. 96–7, no. 34 (I. A. C. Dejardin).
TECHNICAL NOTES
Single oak panel; the verso edges are bevelled. The panel has a splinter crack at the lower left corner and a chip in the centre of the lower edge. The panel also has a slight top-to-bottom convex warp. The paint film is in good condition, although the darker shadows are thin. There are some small spots of retouchings. The surface of the paint bears a fine craquelure. There is no previous recorded treatment.
RELATED WORKS9
1a) According to HdG (ii, 1908, p. 514, no. 819; Engl. edn 1909, p. 520) the main group in DPG77 was exactly repeated in a picture then in a private collection, Ebenrod.10
1b) Watercolour, 18th century, attributed to Jean Baptiste Isabey (1767–1855). Private collection, Iserlohn, in 1988.11
1c) Partial copy: J. Duck, panel, 38 x 33 cm.12
2a) (Study for 2b) Cornelis Saftleven, Sleeping Hunter, monogrammed and dated, 1642, black chalk and grey wash, 163 x 240 mm. George Abrams collection, Boston [1].13
2b) Cornelis Saftleven, Landscape with Sleeping Huntsman and a Greyhound, signed and dated 164. [sic], panel, 39 x 53 cm. George Abrams collection, Boston [2].14
The picture shows an evening scene with horsemen resting at an inn. The use of ‘PH W’ in monogram dates it to before 1646, when Wouwerman changed his signature to variants on ‘PHILS. W’ (‘PHILS’ in monogram). His earliest known work is dated 1639, so it would seem that DPG77 was produced between those dates, when he was in his early twenties. Wouwerman’s pictures from this period are strongly influenced both stylistically and in subject matter by the everyday scenes of Pieter van Laer, with features such as the use in the foreground of sombre earthy browns enlivened by areas of local colour, and the diagonal created by the silhouette of the inn and the road. Duparc suggested that DPG77 dates from 1642/3.15 The man lying down in the left foreground has some similarity to a figure by Cornelis Saftleven (1607–81) in a drawing and a painting of about the same time (Related works, nos 2a, 2b) [1-2].
If indeed this and DPG79 were sold in 1776 from the collection of Jean Pâris de Monmartel, Marquis de Brunoy (1690–1766), they were sold as pendants. In 1842 Mrs Jameson suggested that they were two pictures ‘sold from the collection of the Marquis de Brunoy, in 1749, for 216l’. Both date and price do not agree with the only recorded Brunoy sale, in 1776, but the pairing was echoed by later writers.16 In 1795 they appeared not as a pair in the sale of pictures owned by Desenfans, and the presence of the later type of signature, ‘PHILS . W’, on DPG79 seems to suggest that they were not created as such. They were inherited by Bourgeois in 1807.17
DPG77
Philips Wouwerman
Halt of Cavaliers at an Inn, c. 1642-1643
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery, inv./cat.nr. DPG77
1
Cornelis Saftleven
Sleeping hunter, dated 1642
Boston (Massachusetts), private collection Maida and George S. Abrams
2
and Herman Saftleven Cornelis Saftleven
Landscape with a sleeping hunter and a greyhound, c. 1642-1643
Boston (Massachusetts), private collection Maida and George S. Abrams
DPG97 – Halt of Travellers
c. 1647–9; oak panel, 45.1 x 41.6 cm
Monogrammed, bottom left: PHILS W (PHILS in monogram)
PROVENANCE
Desenfans sale, Skinner and Dyke, London, 17 March 1802 (Lugt 6380), lot 124, ‘A Landscape with Figures, View from Nature’, £220 10s.);18 Bourgeois Bequest, 1811; Britton 1813, p. 23, no. 232 (‘Drawing Room / no. 20, Travellers halting under a tree, horses, waterfall / Companion to 14 [= no. 226, DPG182] P[anel] (W. V.)’; 2'3" x 2'2").
REFERENCES
Cat. 1817, p. 8, no. 126 (‘SECOND ROOM – West Side; Halt of Travellers; Wouvermans’); Haydon 1817, p. 381, no. 126;19 Cat. 1820, p. 8, no. 126; Smith 1829–42, i (1829), pp. 266–7, no. 232;20 Cat. 1830, p. 8, no. 144; Jameson 1842, ii, p. 466, no. 144; Waagen 1854, ii, p. 343, no. 5 (see DPG92 and note 83); Denning 1858 and 1859, no. 144;21 Sparkes 1876, pp. 212–13, no. 144 (‘Painted in the artist’s first manner’); Richter & Sparkes 1880, p. 190, no. 144;22 Richter & Sparkes 1892 and 1905, p. 25, no. 97; HdG, ii, 1908, pp. 342–3, no. 317 (Engl. edn, 1909, p. 347);23 Cook 1914, p. 57, no. 97; Cook 1926, p. 44, no. 97; Cat. 1953, p. 44; Murray 1980a, p. 141;24 Murray 1980b, p. 31; Beresford 1998, p. 268; Schumacher 2006, i, p. 330, A405, ii, pl. 376;25 Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, pp. 298, 307; RKD, no. 225963: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/225963 (March 17, 2018).
EXHIBITIONS
?London 1815, p. 17, no. 71 (‘Landscape, with cattle and horses’; this could also be DPG92); London 1952–3, p. 108, no. 596; Williamsburg/Fresno/Pittsburgh/Oklahoma 2008–10, pp. 104–5, no. 38 (I. A. C. Dejardin).
TECHNICAL NOTES
Single-member oak panel with horizontal grain. The ground preparation of the painting is buff-coloured, with light brown imprimatura. Strong diagonal brushstrokes are visible in the sky. The paint is generally in good condition. Under the frame rebate in the sky there are some light feathery retouchings, which may have blanched. This painting appears almost un-retouched in UV. Previous recorded treatment: 1952–3, Dr Hell.
RELATED WORKS
1) Philips Wouwerman, Horseman at Rest, monogrammed and dated PHILS W 1646 (PHILS in ligature), panel, 32.3 x 36.2 cm. Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig, 825 [3].26
2) Philips Wouwerman, The Grey Horse, c. 1646, monogrammed PH . W (PH in ligature), panel, 43.5 x 38 cm. RM, Amsterdam, SK-A-1610 [4].27
3) Copy: Ralph Cockburn after Philips Wouwerman, Halt of Travellers, c. 1816–20, aquatint, 224 x 177 mm (Cockburn 1830, no. 22). DPG [5].28
DPG97 is an early work, similar to the Horseman at Rest in Leipzig (Related works, no. 1) [3], which is dated 1646. Frederik Duparc has suggested a date of c. 1647–9,29 which seems likely, given the signature style of ‘PHILS . W’ (‘PHILS’ in monogram), which came into use in 1646. The diagonal skyline and coarse figures are typical of Wouwerman’s work when he was heavily under the influence of Pieter van Laer. On the other hand, Richter & Sparkes and later Hofstede de Groot suggested that the depth of colouring shows the influence of Isaac van Ostade (1621–49), who was also living in Haarlem when Wouwerman painted this picture.
The Grey Horse in the Rijksmuseum, from about the same period, is similar in colouring and dimensions, and seems to depict the same horse with a red saddle, facing the other way (Related works, no. 2) [4].
According to Desenfans’ 1802 catalogue DPG97 was apparently acquired from a collector in Amsterdam. As it does not seem to appear in Dutch sale catalogues between 1790 and 1802 it is likely that its earlier provenance will continue to be obscure.
DPG97
Philips Wouwerman
Halt of Travellers, c. 1647-1649
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery, inv./cat.nr. DPG97
3
Philips Wouwerman
Landscape with a man, horse and dog resting, dated 1646
Leipzig, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, inv./cat.nr. 825
4
Philips Wouwerman
The grey horse, c. 1646
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv./cat.nr. SK-A-1610
5
Ralph Cockburn after Philips Wouwerman
Halt of Travellers, 1816-1820
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery
Notes
1 GPID (10 June 2013): Jean Páris de Montmartel, Marquis de Brunoy, sale, Joullain fils, Paris, 2 Dec. 1776 (Lugt 2611), lot 34: Philippe Wouvermans – Deux autres tableaux, du mérite le plus distingué: l’un représente des cavaliers à la porte d'un cabaret, situé dans une campagne dont le lointain est admirable; l’autre des hommes à pied & à cheval qui semblent égarés & demander leur route à une femme qui est auprès d’une fontaine. Bois; hauteur 15 pouces 6 lignes, largeur 22 pouc.; bt Dubois, 5,405 livres (for two paintings). (Two other pictures, of the most distinguished merit: one depicts horsemen at the door of a tavern, set in a countryside of which the distance is admirable; the other has men on foot & on horseback who seem to be lost & to be asking their way from a woman near a fountain. Panel. French dimensions, c. 42 x 59.4 cm).
2 ‘DITTO [= Wouwermans]. Halt of Travellers at an Inn-door. A woman is feeding the horse of a dismounted cavalier, who is reclining on the ground; and another, in a buff vestment with a blue scarf, is talking to him; the imposing effect of both these pictures [the previous picture is DPG91], their delightful colouring and finish, are truly grateful to the eye of taste.’
3 Of no. 125 and no. 126: ‘Both these pictures are of great beauty, full of air, and life, and light. They are the same, I presume, which were sold from the collection of the Marquis de Brunoy, in 1749 [sic], for 216l.’
4 ‘1. A landscape; in the foreground two horsemen in conversation with a girl [DPG77?]. 2. The companion picture with some horsemen; a woman shaking out fodder before a horse. On panel, 1 ft. 8 in. high, 2 ft. wide. The landscapes are in the style of Wynants; the careful execution is in a warm tone [DPG79?] (Nos. 63, 64).’ NB: nos 63 and 64 in the Dulwich catalogue of the time are by Pieter Wouwerman, on canvas, and smaller (9½ x 14⅛ in.).
5 1858: ‘One of the cavaliers is said to have been a portrait of Charles IInd made by Wouwermans during his (the Prince’s) residence abroad’. 1859: ‘There is a tradition that one of the Cavaliers is a portrait of Charles IInd. If so, it must have been painted about 1656–8 during his exile residence in Belgium.’
6 p. 211, under no. 126: ‘This and the preceding picture [no. 125] are those, it is believed, which were sold from the Marquis de Brunoy’s Collection, in 1749 [sic], for 216l.’
7 ‘This picture is rendered very attractive by the simplicity and naturalness of the composition.’
8 ‘There is a tradition that one of the cavaliers in the present picture represents Charles II. If so, the picture was painted in 1656, when he was in exile in Belgium.’
9 A letter from J. P. Foster to Giles Waterfield, 27 June 1988 (DPG77 file), refers to a copy or version formerly in a private collection in Poland, but that has a different composition.
10 Schumacher 2006, i, p. 330, under no. A404.
11 ibid.
12 ibid.
13 RKD, no. 289174: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/289174 (May 5, 2018); Schulz 1978, pp. 63, 85, no. 56, fig. 64.
14 RKD, no. 289175: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/289175 (May 5, 2018); Schulz 1978, pp. 63, 228, no. 646, fig. 29. Landscape perhaps painted by Herman Saftleven (c. 1609–85).
15 Letter from Frederik J. Duparc to Richard Beresford, 18 Aug. 1997 (DPG77 file).
16 Neither Lugt nor the GPID has a record of a de Brunoy sale in 1749.
17 There is no picture exactly fitting the description of DPG79 in Desenfans’ Evening Mail inventory of 1790–91. However it is possible that another work (‘Wouvermans – A landscape with a variety of figures at the door of a cottage’) is DPG77. In any case the pictures were not presented in this inventory as a pair (if one of them or both can be found under the rather general descriptions).
18 Desenfans 1802, ii, pp. 83–84, no. 114: ‘A Landscape with Figures, View from Nature. The drawing of this picture was but a few years ago, in the possession of a merchant at Amsterdam, where a friend of our’s saw it. We see in this, detached from a warm, silvery and transparent sky, a small house covered with thatch, built on an eminence, and surrounded with trees; a gentleman is near, wrapped in a cloak, and mounted on a fine horse; his servant who rides a white one, upon which is a red saddle, is dismounted, and giving him to eat, out of a basket. On this side, is a man dressed in brown and blue, with a red bonnet on his head; he appears fatigued and reposes himself extended on the ground; a little farther, to the left [i.e. right], a cascade is seen, and on the second ground to the right [i.e. left], an old willow with but few leaves, and almost despoiled of it’s verdure. This picture, which is of a most precious enamel, and an uncommon force of colouring, will always rank among the finest productions of the master. On pannel.’ In the Desenfans catalogue and in other descriptions of the time left and right are not given as seen from the viewer, so in this description right is left and left is right.
19 ‘WOUWERMANS. Halt of Travellers. In the artist’s very best style.’
20 ‘Painted in the artist’s first manner. Collection of Noel Desenfans 1802 200 gs. Exhibited in the British Gallery, 1815. Now in the Dulwich Gallery.’
21 1858: ‘Dr. Waagen calls this “Le Colombier du Maréchal” [in pencil] he is wrong. He characterises it as “a picture of great fullness and depth of colour.” Signed with the genuine monogram of Philip Wouwermans. Descamps. Vol: ii p: 292. speaks of “Chez M d’Argenville (à Paris) un tableau connu sous le nom du Colombier” Is this it then? [in pencil] no. 137.’ 1859: ‘A picture in his earliest style. See Smith Cat: Rais: no 232.’
22 ‘Also an early work, of great fullness and depth of colour, painted under the influence of Isack van Ostade’.
23 HdG says, basing it on Smith (1829–42, i (1829) [see note 20 above]): exhibited at the British Institution in 1815 (Smith calls it there the ‘British Gallery, 1815’, but he must have meant British Institution).
24 ‘Because of its resemblance to the work of I. van Ostade this has been thought to be an early work.’ […] ‘both [Smith and HdG] probably wrongly, as exhibited at the British Institution in 1815’.
25 Schumacher thinks that Smith’s and HdG’s statements are based on the exhibition at the British Institution in 1815; the description however is very vague (see under EXHIBITIONS).
26 RKD, no. 262095: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/262095 (May 5, 2018); Duparc & Buvelot 2009, pp. 72–3, no. 3 (A. Klaassen), p. 166, no. 3, p. 191; Schumacher 2006, no. A334.
27 RKD, no. 23873: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/23873 (May 5, 2018); http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.collect.6592 (June 6, 2018); Duparc & Buvelot 2009, pp. 74–5, no. 4 (G. Wuestman), p. 166, no. 4. NB: previously the signature had been read as ‘Phils. W.’, in monogram. Recently the museum changed that in ‘PH . W’ (PH in ligature), see email from Bas Nederveen to Ellinoor Bergvelt, 14 June 2018 (DPG97 file).
28 RKD, no. 289541: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/289541 (May 18, 2018).
29 Letter from Frederik J. Duparc to Richard Beresford, 18 Aug. 1997 (DPG92 file).