Beschreibung:

Property from the Grasset Collection
Barent AvercampKampen 1612/13 - 1679Fishermen hauling in a net watched by two gentlemen, milkmaids and peasants on a knoll, a yacht and other sailing boats in an estuary beyond
signed lower right: Avercampoil on oak panel45 x 67 cm.; 17¾ x 26½ in.
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格拉塞特典藏
巴倫特・阿弗坎普坎彭，1612/13 - 1679年《兩位男士觀看漁民拉網，小丘上有擠奶女工和農民，遠處河口有大帆船和其他帆船》
款識︰藝術家簽名Avercamp（右下）油彩橡木畫板45 x 67 公分；17 ¾ x 26 ½ 英寸Condition reportThe following condition report is provided by K&S Conservation Ltd. who are external specialists and not employees of Sotheby's:
The painting is assumed to be painted in oil on an oak panel. It is overall in sound condition. The panel consists of two boards, both arranged with the grain-direction running horizontal. The panel has been thinned and is now cradled (seven fixed horizontal members of varying width and placed closer together at the center, as well as seven vertical movable ones. At the center there is an insert running the width of the panel. This is non-original and visible only from the edge. At the back, the cradle members are applied tighter across this area. The paint and ground layers are stable, with no signs of flaking or recent losses. There are no losses as such to the paint layers, other than the area of the insert. However, there is some wear to the painting especially to the sky. The painting has recently been restored. The surface gloss is even and saturating.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."ProvenanceJaap Hollander, Kralingen, The Netherlands;
His sale, Berlin, Lepke, 9–10 May 1899, lot 43;
With P. de Boer, Amsterdam;
Private Collection, Germany, December 1923 (according to Welcker 1979 below);
Anonymous sale, Munich, Weinmüller, 29–30 September and 1 October 1965, lot 1294;
With Alfred Brod, London (in his catalogue of February–March 1966, no. 9);
The J.M. Rampton Discretionary Trust;
By whom sold, London, Christie's, 10 July 1987, lot 22, for £75,000;
Where acquired for the Grasset Collection.LiteratureK.J. Müllenmeister, Meer und Land im Licht des 17 Jahrhunderts, vol. I, Bremen 1973, p. 120, reproduced (with incorrect provenance);
C.J. Welcker, Hendrick Avercamp 1585-1634 en Barent Avercamp 1612–1679 'Schilders tot Campen', Doornspijk 1979, p. 332, no. S12.3.;
F.G. Meijer in Brueghel to Canaletto, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection, exh. cat. San Diego, 2016, p. 19, no. 14, reproduced in colour;
S. Thomas, in A Feast for the Eyes, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection, exh. cat. Saint Petersburg, Florida, 2019, pp. 24, 94, no. 6, reproduced in colour.ExhibitedNorwich, City Museums, on loan 1973;
San Diego, The San Diego Museum of Art, Brueghel to Canaletto, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection, 2 April – 2 August 2016, no. 14;
Saint Petersburg, Florida, Museum of Fine Arts, A Feast for the Eyes, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection, 23 March – 2 September 2019, no. 6.Catalogue noteThis is one of the finest of a closely related group of summer landscapes that Avercamp painted depicting fishermen at work on the banks of a river. They are typically composed as here around a low horizon line, with teams of fishermen hauling in their nets on a riverbank in the immediate foreground, watched by one or more wealthier burghers and other countryfolk. With their weaving diagonal recession and play of light and shadow across the water and fields beyond they display a real sensitivity for the Dutch landscape.
The paintings most closely comparable to the present work are the two signed panels sold Paris, Christie’s, 21 June 2011, lot 14, and 18 May 2022, lot 211, where in both cases trees replace the figures on a knoll shown here in the left foreground.1 The first of these is similar to a drawing of fishermen by Avercamp’s uncle Hendrick, today preserved in the Fondation Custodia Frits Lugt in Paris, which Barent may perhaps have known.2 Another similar panel, now in the Manchester City Art Gallery, which is signed and dated 1650, adopts an ever lower viewpoint upon the shoreline itself.3
The riverbank depicted here may perhaps be a stretch of the river Ijsel near Avercamp’s home town of Kampen, but any possible landmarks are absent. Seemingly the only such view with an identifiable topography is the much wider unpublished panel in the Stedelijk Museum in Kampen, which shows fishermen on the banks of the river Ijsel with a view of Kampen beyond, and which is also dated to 1650.4 Meijer (see Literature) suggests a date of around 1660 for the present panel on grounds of style and costume.
The provenance for the present panel was confused by Müllenmeister with that of a smaller picture formerly with Goudstikker in 1919 and later in the H.E. ten Kate collection.5 However this, together with another smaller panel of 1654 formerly in the Wetzlar collection in Amsterdam,6 is composed in the reverse direction.
1 Welcker 1979, p. 329, nos B.A S 5.5 and 5.4 respectively.2 Exhibited New York, Pierpont Morgan Library and Paris, Institut Néerlandais, Rembrandt and his century. Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century from the Collection of the Frits Lugt Institut Néerlandais, Paris, 1977–78, no. 2, reproduced pl. 14.3 Inv. No. 3. Panel, 33 x 52 cm. Welcker 1979, p. 328, no. B.A. S.0.1, reproduced pl. XXXIV A.4 Panel, 32.5 x 89.3 cm.5 Panel, 35 x 61 cm. Welcker 1979, pp. 329–30, nos B.A. S.5 and S.8.1. Reproduced in The Burlington Magazine, CXIV, no. 831, June 1972, advertisement pl. xxvii.6 M.J. Friedländer, Collection Dr. H. Wetzlar, Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1952, p. 8, no. 4, reproduced fig. 4.Catalogue note