Esaias van de Velde

Amsterdam 1587 - The Hague 1630


Landscape with an Ambush ona country Road in the Dunes; Landscape with a Cowherd watering his Cattle.

A Pair, both Oil on Panel, circular, Diameter: 10.6 and 11.4 cm
The former Signed and Dated lower right: E.V .Velde / 1625
The latter Signed and Dated lower left: E.V .Velde 1625

ENQUIRIES

Provenance

Wilhelm Gumprecht, Berlin;
Theodor Stroefer (1843–1927), Nuremberg;
His sale, Munich, Julius Böhler, 28 October 1937, lots 109 and 110, for DM 1900;
With Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Christie's, 4 May 1999, lot 92;
With Dr A. Wieg Fine Art, Amsterdam;
Mr and Mrs Barge-Dreesmann, Brasschaat;
Thence by descent to the present owners.

Literature

G.S. Keyes, Esaias van den Velde 1587–1630, Doornspijk 1984, p. 134, no. 58, reproduced pl. 400, and p. 160, no. 154, reproduced pl. 401 (incorrectly as tondos set into square panels).




Additionnal Information

Esaias van de Velde’s protestant parents fled Antwerp to the North after the Spanish lay siege on the city in 1585. Esaias is thought to have been apprenticed initially to his father Hans, also a painter and subsequently to other Flemish artists active in Amsterdam. After the death of his father in 1609 the family moved from Amsterdam to Haarlem. In 1618, at the age of 31 Esaias van de Velde moved from Haarlem to The Hague where he remained until the end of his life. 

 

Esaias was a versatile artist practicing historical, military and genre paintings. However, he is best known for his pioneering contribution to Dutch Landscape painting. The tradition of painting landscapes on a circular format was popular in sixteenth century Flanders and appears to have been first introduced by Hendrick Avercamp in a number of round winter landscapes around 1610. From 1616 Esaias van de Velde too embraced this circular format but used it to execute much more realistic natural landscapes such as the present pair.

Esaias was among the first artist to venture outside and draw from life. The present pair typify a Dutch realistic landscape with its low horizon, broad sky and accurately defined architectural features, trees and figures serving as spatial points of reference. 

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