Follower of Aelbert Cuyp DPG192, DPG469
DPG192 – Cattle near a River
1780–99; oak panel, 59.1 x 74 cm
Inscribed, bottom left: A Cuÿp
PROVENANCE
Bourgeois Bequest, 1811; Britton 1813, p. 10, no. 72 (‘Library Cuyp’s / no. 9, A Landscape, Cattle &c – P[anel]. Do [i.e. Cuyp]’; 3'5" x 3'6").
REFERENCES
Cat. 1817, p. 5, no. 58 (‘FIRST ROOM – North Side; A Landscape, with Cattle; Albert Cuyp’); Haydon 1817, p. 374, no. 58 (Cuyp);1 Cat. 1820, p. 5, no. 58; Cat. 1830, p. 12, no. 239 (Cuyp); not Smith, v, 1834, pp. 305, 444, no. 73;2 Penny Magazine 1841a, p. 193 (with Related works, no. 3b; Fig.); Jameson 1842, ii, p. 482, no. 239 (Cuyp);3 Clarke 1842, n.p., no. 239 (‘a very good picture’); Waagen 1854, ii, p. 344;4 Denning 1858, no. 239; not in Denning 1859; Crowe 1874, ii, p. 461;5 Sparkes 1876, pp. 48–9, no. 239; Richter & Sparkes 1880, pp. 46–7, no. 239 (Cuyp);6 Richter & Sparkes 1892 and 1905, p. 50, no. 192; HdG, ii, 1908, p. 65, no. 201 (Cuyp; Smith 73);7 Cook 1914, p. 122, no. 192 (Cuyp); Cook 1926, p. 115, no. 192; Cat. 1953, p. 17; Reiss 1975, p. 206 (rejects DPG192 as by Cuyp, but incorrectly equates with Smith 73); Murray 1980a, p. 300 (Cuyp); Chong 1993, pp. 463–4, under no. C 51 (Rejected works; Jacob van Strij);8 Beresford 1998, pp. 84–5 (Imitator of Cuyp), Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, p. 238–9 (after Cuyp, attributed to Jacob van Strij); Paarlberg 2020, p. 247, note 23; RKD, no. 286924: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/286924 (March 24, 2018).
EXHIBITION
London 1903, p. 27, no. 100.
TECHNICAL NOTES
Three-member oak panel with horizontal grain. Areas of the sky are thinly painted, allowing the wood grain to show through; highlights are thicker. The panel has a slight concave bow. There is an old split between the two upper members, which has been mended with a gap between the two parts at the left side. There is some paint and ground loss in the upper centre of the sky. A large area of thick overpaint is visible in the top left. Previous recorded treatment: 1949–70, Dr Hell.
RELATED WORKS
1a) Prime version: Aelbert Cuyp, Cattle on a Bank with the ruins of Merwede Castle, signed A. cuyp, panel, 71 x 90.5 cm. The Kremer Collection, The Netherlands;9 Chong B 13 [1].10
1b) (same herd of cattle) William Baillie after Aelbert Cuyp, Cattle beside a River, Moonlight, mezzotint and etching in sepia with surface tone, 27.9 (trimmed) x 41.3 cm (trimmed), lettered below the image, ‘Cuyp Pinxt / Published Sepr. 1. 1773 / WBaillie f.’ BM, London, 1982,U.801 [2].11
1c) (same herd of cattle) ?Aelbert Cuyp, Sunset after Rain, signed, c. 1648–52, panel, 83.9 x 69.9 cm (within a painted oval). Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, PD 115-1975; Chong C 46 [3].12
2a) Jacob van Strij, Cattle near a River, with the Huis te Merwede in the Distance, panel, 55.9 x 78.7 cm. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, 30-24.P.464; Chong C 51.13
2b) Jacob van Strij, Landscape with Cattle, c. 1800, panel, 80 x 107.3 cm. MMA, New York, 91.26.8.14
2c) Follower of Aelbert Cuyp, Resting Cattle on the Banks of the Maas, in the background Dordrecht, panel, 51 x 69 cm. Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht, DM/010/943 [4].15
3a.)Copy: Ralph Cockburn, A View near Utrecht, c. 1816–20, aquatint, 170 x 234 mm (Cockburn 1830, no. 15). DPG [5].16
3b) Copy: John Jackson, Landscape and Cattle – Cuyp, wood engraving, Penny Magazine 1841a, p. 193.
Lent to the RA to be copied in 1839
DPG192 is partly based on an authentic Cuyp now in a Dutch private collection (Related works, no. 1a) [1]. Behind the cows in the centre is a river, with houses and a tower on the opposite shore. The cows are largely in shadow, and in the blue sky the sun is breaking dramatically through the clouds. According to Sparkes this is a view near Dordrecht, but Cockburn calls it a view near Utrecht. The same grouping of cattle appears in a large number of copies by Cuyp’s followers, with slight variations (for example Related works, no. 1c) [3]. Alan Chong considers that it was painted by the 18th-century Dordrecht artist Jacob van Strij (see Related works, nos. 2a, 2b) and it was included in the 2016 Dulwich catalogue as such.17 However according to Sander Paarlberg DPG192 belongs to a group of three Cuyp imitations, which also includes a painting in the Dordrechts Museum (Related works, no. 2c) [4] and a picture that was at auction in New York in 2005.18
DPG192 was very much appreciated by 19th-century writers as an Aelbert Cuyp. Several of the authors who wrote about the Dulwich collection were charmed by it, including Mrs Jameson, Waagen, Denning, Richter and Sparkes. Moreover, it was chosen by the Penny Magazine in 1841 for discussion and illustration as an Aelbert Cuyp (Related works, no. 3b); Keeper Ralph Cockburn chose to include it in his series of reproductions of Dulwich pictures (Related works, no. 3a) [5], and the Royal Academy chose it to be copied by its pupils in 1839.
DPG192
follower of Aelbert Cuyp
Cattle near a river, late 18th century
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery, inv./cat.nr. DPG192
1
Aelbert Cuyp
River landscape with seven cows and the ruins of Merwede Castle
United States of America, Netherlands, Spain, private collection The Kremer Collection
2
William Baillie after Aelbert Cuyp
Cattle beside a River, Moonlight, published in 1773
London (England), British Museum, inv./cat.nr. 1892,U.801
3
Aelbert Cuyp
Sunset after rain, probably 1640's
Cambridge (England), Fitzwilliam Museum, inv./cat.nr. PD.115-1975
4
follower of Aelbert Cuyp
Landscape with cows resting a the bank of the river (Oude) Maas, in the backgrouns Dordrecht
Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, inv./cat.nr. DM/010/943
5
Ralph Cockburn after follower of Aelbert Cuyp
View near Utrecht
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery
After CUYP, 17th/18th century
DPG469 – Landscape with Shepherds
17th or 18th century; oak panel, 47.6 x 73.6 cm
PROVENANCE
Bourgeois Bequest, 1811; Britton 1813, p. 10, no. 74 (‘Library Cuyp’s / no. 11, Landscape, with Sheep & Shepherd. – P[anel] – Do [i.e. Cuyp]’; 2'7" x 3'4").
REFERENCES
Cat. 1817, p. 6, no. 68 (‘FIRST ROOM – East Side; A Landscape, with Sheep and Goats; Cuyp’); Haydon 1817, p. 375, no. 68;19 Cat. 1820, p. 6, no. 68; Cat. 1830, p. 12, no. 180 (Cuyp); Jameson 1842, ii, p. 471, no. 180 (Cuyp?);20 Denning 1858, no. 180 (‘Certainly not painted by Cuyp’); Denning 1859, no. 180 (‘It was falsely attributed to Cuyp’);21 Sparkes 1876, p. 48, no. 180 (ascribed to Cuyp); Richter & Sparkes 1880, p. 48, no. 180 (‘Painted in imitation of Cuijp’);22 Richter & Sparkes 1892 and 1905, p. 125, no. 180;23 Cook 1914, p. 260, no. 469; Cook 1926, p. 242, no. 469; Cat. 1953, p. 48 (subject pieces by unknown artists); Murray 1980a, p. 303 (unknown); Chong 1993, p. 314, under no. 67; Beresford 1998, p. 84 (after Cuyp); Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, p. 66 (after Cuyp); RKD, no. 291579: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/291579 (Sept. 18, 2018).
TECHNICAL NOTES
Two-member oak panel with horizontal grain. The panel has a slight warp; the horizontal join is very noticeable. The painting is not in good condition and has suffered from extreme blistering and flaking with some small areas of complete loss of paint and ground. Attempts were made to consolidate the flaking in the 1990s, but the paint remains in a fairly poor state. The painting is very dirty, with losses and cracking. Previous recorded treatment: 1991, surface cleaned and consolidated, V. Leanse; 1994, flaking secured, N. Ryder.
RELATED WORKS
1) Prime version: Aelbert Cuyp, Landscape with Shepherds, panel, 48.3 x 73.7 cm. Present whereabouts unknown (Sotheby’s, New York, 24–25 Jan. 2008, lot 237; Sotheby’s, New York, May 1996).24
The picture shows a broad landscape with a river. On the right are two shepherds, one standing, one reclining, in front of some trees. The standing shepherd is in almost the same position as the shepherd in View on a Plain with Rhenen in the Distance (DPG4).
The painting is a copy of a Cuyp that was at auction in New York in 2008 (Related works, no. 1) [6]. It is conceivable that the copyist was Bourgeois: in 1816 Hazlitt noted that ‘At one time he [Bourgeois] copied the old masters. One of these copies after Berghem [Berchem], but in the style of Wouvermans, is a good imitation, pencilled with great labour and exactness, but not with the freedom of an original.’25 A ‘Cuyp’ that was displayed in the Gallery in the 19th century is now thought to be by Bourgeois (DPG135).26 Bourgeois is also said to have painted the cattle in the foreground of Cuyp DPG60 (removed in 1998).
DPG469
possibly Francis Bourgeois (Sir) after Aelbert Cuyp
Landscape with Shepherds, c. 1650-1800
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery, inv./cat.nr. DPG469
6
Aelbert Cuyp
Landscape with two shepherds and their animals; in the background a view over flooded floodplains of a river, c. 1640
New York City, private collection Christian Humann
Notes
1 ‘Albert Cuyp. Landscape with Cattle. The cattle in this picture form the principal [sic]; and a flat meadow country, through which a river passes, with a village in the distance, the accessories. It is needless to add that it is a fine picture.’
2 According to HdG (ii, 1908, p. 65, no. 201) DPG192 was Smith no. 73: ‘Man with a pack at his back; a woman and 8 cows; panel 1 ft 6 in by 2 ft’; Smith took this description from Desenfans 1802, ii, p. 145, no. 144 (with some changes). Smith and HdG assumed that this picture was in the Dulwich Gallery, but the description refers to a different picture.
3 ‘A very beautiful picture, breathing the repose of a soft summer evening.’
4 ‘The contrast between the dark-coloured animals and the clear water is very striking; the impasto admirable […] (No. 239).’
5 Earlier he suggested Abraham van Strij: letter from Alan Chong to DPG, 21 Jan. 1984 (DPG 315 file).
6 ‘The deep tones and the impasto in the foreground are in striking contrast with the delicate vapour which envelops the background. A very fine work of the master.’
7 See note 2 above.
8 182 For Chong’s C 51 see Related works, no. 2a, note 187 below.
9 For information about the Kremer Collection see http://www.thekremercollection.com/art (Aug. 13, 2013).
10 RKD, no. 57358: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/57358 (March 24, 2018); unpublished notes by Martin Bijl, c. 2012, with thanks to him (DPG192 file), later published in Bijl & Kloek 2014 (as Aelbert Cuyp); see also Chong 1993, pp. 436–7, no. B 13, previously Sotheby’s, 8 July 2010, lot 173 (and before that British Rail Pension fund, on loan to the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (1982–94), Graf Czernin, on loan to the Residenz Galerie, Salzburg, and further provenance); Reiss 1975, p. 113, no. 76.
11 RKD, no. 287480: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/287480 (March 24, 2018); Reiss 1975, p. 112, no. 75. The present whereabouts of the original Cuyp are unknown; see also: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1982-U-801 (July 18, 2020).
12 RKD, no. 252577: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/252577 (March 24, 2018); Chong 1993, pp. 461–2, no. C 46 (Rejected works); Smith 1829–42, v (1834), p. 340, no. 195, ix (1842), p. 654, no. 16; HdG, ii, 1909 (Engl. edn), p. 64, no. 186, p. 86, no. 270; Reiss 1975, p. 109, no. 72, According to the Fitzwilliam Museum, this is a ‘real’ Cuyp; Roe 2006, p. 46, no. PD.115.1975; see also http://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/1273 (Nov. 26, 2017).
13 Chong 1993, pp. 463–4, no. C 51 (Rejected works): ‘In poor condition. Not seen. Partially damaged in the sky. But otherwise in excellent condition [sic]. Hofstede de Groot said the work was from Cuyp’s last period. The group of cattle is derived from Cat. B 13 [= Related works, no. 1a]. Both this work and the almost identical painting in Dulwich are by Jacob van Strij, and are very close in handling and composition to Cat. C 51.’
14 Paarlberg 2020, pp. 240–43, fig. 10; Liedtke 2007a, ii, pp. 853–7, no. 199, colour fig. 199, fig. 247. See also
15 Sander Paarlberg in an email to Rieke van Leeuwen (March 2020) strongly doubts the attribution of DPG192 to Jacob van Strij. ‘The work belongs stylistically and in the way the cows are depicted in a group of Cuyp imitations, which also includes the painting in the collection of the Dordrecht Museum (DM/010/943; bought as Jacob van Strij and so it is also on the museum’s website, but it is not his hand). Technical research so far indicates that it has nothing to do with Van Strij, nor has the Dulwich picture.’ See also Paarlberg 2020, p. 247 (note 23), as ‘belonging to a group of related compositions that, however, refer more directly and emphatically to [Aelbert] Cuyp [than the works of Jacob van Strij], and where the attribution to Jacob van Strij is uncertain’. In this note not only DPG192 is mentioned but also a third picture as belonging to this group: sale Christie’s, New York, 25 May 2005, lot 262, with ill. (as attributed to Jacob van Strij). See also his explanation in his email of 3 Oct 2020, mentioned in note 192, with many thanks.
16 See RKD, no. 286925: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/286925 (March 24, 2018); according to Chong 1993, p. 464, this is no. 3 of the Cockburn series.
17 Paarlberg 2020, p. 247 (note 23). The sale in New York was at Christie’s, 25 May 2005, lot 262. The technical research that Paarlberg mentioned in his email of March 2020 (see note 15 above) is alas not discussed in his article, but in an email (Sander Paarlberg to Ellinoor Bergvelt, 3 Oct. 2020 (DPG192 file)) he gave an extensive explanation, with many thanks.
18 ‘Albert Cuyp. Landscape, with Sheep and Goats. One boy is standing in the fore-ground, and another seated is conversing with him.’
19 ‘A landscape. – Mediocre and doubtful.’
20 According to Denning 1858 and 1859 DPG469 was not hanging in the Gallery at the time.
21 ‘A pasticcio, painted in imitation of A. Cuijp by a late artist’.
22 In the interleaved copy of the 1892 catalogue (DPG) it says: ‘see Minutes 9/3/1875’. In these Minutes (18 (1875) p. 40), missing pictures are discussed, among them no. 180: p. 41, ‘No. 180; Mrs. Jameson says this was a Cuyp, “mediocre and doubtful,” such a Cuyp is in the little room near the mausoleum, which probably is the missing picture.’
23 RKD, no. 8893: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/8893 (July 21, 2020); Chong 1993, pp. 313–14, no. 67; see also a fax from Alan Chong to Richard Beresford, 14 Sept. 1996 (DPG469 file).
24 Hazlitt 1816/1930–34, iii, p. 189.
25 Ingamells 2008, p. 93, DPG135.