A rocky Landscape - Esias van de Velde (1587-1630)

Esias van de Velde
Amsterdam, 1587 – The Hague, 1630

A rocky landscape with Travellers and a Horseman on a Path, a view of a Town in the Distance

Signed ‘E.V.VELDE’ and dated ‘1625’, lower right
Oil on panel
H. 13,7 cm. W. 15,2 cm.

PROVENANCE
Private collection, United kingdom (according to a lable on the reverse);
Anonymous sale, Bukowski, Stockholm, 4-7 November 1986, as lot nr. 441;
Private collection, Europe;
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, Amsterdam, 10 May 2011, as lot nr. 22;
Private collection

REFERENCE LITERATURE
Keyes, G. (1984). Esaias van de Velde 1587-1630. Doornspijk, p.119, pp. 166-167

CATALOGUE NOTE
Dated 1625, this little panel was painted following the artists move from the city of Haarlem to the Hague. Here, during the mid 1620’s, van de Velde explored the themes of hilly and rocky landscapes. Both in its subject matter and in the free handling, this painting fits well in a large group of imaginary panoramas which characterise this mature phase. Although intimate in scale, like a number of works from this period, Van de Velde has created distinctive spatial zones by blocking the left part of the view up close in the picture plane with high rocks formation, while on the right hand side the open country extends in the far distance. The figures recur with some variations in another work by van de Velde, signed and dated 1623, in the Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts (inv.nr.1964:4). See for example, G.Keyes, Esaias van de Velde1587-1630, Doornspijk 1984, pp.119, 166-167, cat.nr. 2, 175 and 178, reproduced plates 149-151. The present painting is recorded at the RKD, The Hague, under nr. 253759.