Jan van Goyen (1596 – 1656)
The end of the Eighty Years' War, the Dutch revolt against the Spanish, marks the beginning of the Golden Age. The 1648 treaty known as the Peace of Munster recognized the Dutch Republic as an independent country no longer under the control of the Holy Roman Empire. Dutch pride and prosperity certainly contributed to the immense popularity of landscape painting, the most popular genre in the seventeenth century. Jan van Goyen's panoramic View on The Hague, a five meters wide painting commissioned by the city in 1650, certainly shows his mastery of the cityscape. It is possible that his connection to the court was the catalyst for his trip east to Kleve, a city under the control of stadholder Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen (1604-1679) since 1647. Maurits, the art loving aristocrat of German origin, commissioned the renovation of Kleve's Schwanenburg castle and the construction of extensive gardens that greatly influenced European landscape design.
Provenance
Possibly Andrew Geddes (1738-1844), London, 1845His sale, Christie's, London, 8-14 April 1845, lot 361
Private collection, England, 1879
Johnson Neale, London, by 1895
Thomas Mark Hovell (1853-1925), London, June 1918
Thomas Dinwiddy
Possibly Andrew Geddes (1738-1844), London, 1845
His sale, Christie's, London, 8-14 April 1845, lot 361
Private collection, England, 1879
Johnson Neale, London, by 1895
Thomas Mark Hovell (1853-1925), London, June 1918
Thomas Dinwiddy
His sale, Sotheby's, London, 3 July 1918, lot 124 (£610)
With P. and D. Colnaghi & Obach, London (stock no. A1700)
Frederik Muller & Cie, Amsterdam, 15 August 1918 (sold for £800)
With Anton Mensing (1866-1936), Amsterdam
His sale, Frederik Muller & Co., Amsterdam, 27 April 1937, lot 218 (for 7,200 florins to Hirschmann)
With Adolf Mayer, the Hague & New York
With Van Diemen-Lilienfeld Galleries, New York, 1957
W. Suhr, New York
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
Their sale, Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 1987, lot 15, ill. (£3,000)
Christie's, London, private sale, 2014
Private collection, New York
Exhibitions
The Hague, Mauritshuis, 1895The Hague, Mauritshuis, 1918
Literature
Verslagen omtrent ‘s Rijks Verzamelingen van Geschiedenis en Kunst, Vol. 18, 1895-1896, pp. 64-66Campbell Dodgson, ”A Dutch Sketchbook of 1650”, Burlington Magazine, Vol. 32, no. 183 (June 1918), pp. 234-240
Abraham Bredius, in response to Campbell Dodgson, “A Dutch Sketchbook of 1650,” Burlington Magazine, Vol. 33, no. 186, (September 1918), p. 112
Campbell Dodgson, “A Dutch Sketchbook of 1650,” Burlington Magazine, Vol. 66, no. 387 (June 1935), p. 284
Hans-Ulrich Beck, ”Jan van Goyens Handzeichnungen als Vorzeichnungen”, Oud-Holland, Vol. 72, 1957, pp. 241-250
Friedrich Gorissen, Conspectus Cliviae, Cleve, 1964, p. 84-86
Hans-Ulrich Beck, Ein Skizzenbuch von Jan van Goyen, The Hague, 1966, p. 21, fn. 10, as one of the Amsterdam sketches, ‘vor dem Haarlemmer Tor’ (“before the Haarlem city gate”)
H. Dattenberg, Niederrheinansichten holländischer Künstler, Düsseldorf 1967
Hans-Ulrich Beck, Jan van Goyen, 1596-1656: Ein Oeuvreverzeichnis. Katalog der Handzeichnungen, Vol. I, Amsterdam 1972, no. 847/5, p. 287, ill.
Hans-Ulrich Beck, Jan van Goyen, 1596-1656: Ein Oeuvreverzeichnis. Erganzungen zum Katalog der Handzeichnungen, Vol. III, Doornspijk 1987, cat.no. 847, pp. 124-125b
Edwin Buijsen, ”De schetsboeken van Jan van Goyen”, in: Jan van Goyen, Leiden 1996, pp. 22-37, 80, 130
Ann H. Sievers, Master Drawings from the Smith College Museum of Art, New York 2000, pp. 65-69, nos. 12-13