拍品专文
As pointed out by P. Sutton, Masters of 17th century Dutch Landscape Painting, exhibition catalogue, 1987, p. 246, Asselijn belonged to the so-called second generation of Dutch Italianate landscape painters, among which is also Nicolaes Berchem and Jan Both. These artists travelled to Italy between 1635-1650 and were all influenced by Pieter van Laer.
In fact Both returned in his native Utrecht by 1642; Asselijn arrived back in Amsterdam only in 1647, after a stay of five years in Lyons and Paris.
The present lot, to be dated to circa 1650, is to be compared with the picture of approximately the same date in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (A. Ch. Steland-Stief, op. cit., no. 68, plate LV). According to Steland-Stief, op. cit., p. 80, Asselijn's pictures of this time are characterised by their well conceived ordering of space, the sharp rendering of the angular forms of ruins and buildings, the use of delicate colours and a thin application of paint. Although both the Rijksmuseum picture as the present lot show a calm, classic landscape, typical of Asselijn, both compositions reflect the influence of Van Laer, who was the first Dutch artist to experiment with sun-lit landscapes seen through archway settings of either grottos or ruins. See for example his etching of bandits in a grotto (A. CH. Steland-Stief, op. cit., plate XIV). Asselijn gradually developed the idiom by reducing the importance of the staffage and introducing classical ruins.
See colour illustration
In fact Both returned in his native Utrecht by 1642; Asselijn arrived back in Amsterdam only in 1647, after a stay of five years in Lyons and Paris.
The present lot, to be dated to circa 1650, is to be compared with the picture of approximately the same date in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (A. Ch. Steland-Stief, op. cit., no. 68, plate LV). According to Steland-Stief, op. cit., p. 80, Asselijn's pictures of this time are characterised by their well conceived ordering of space, the sharp rendering of the angular forms of ruins and buildings, the use of delicate colours and a thin application of paint. Although both the Rijksmuseum picture as the present lot show a calm, classic landscape, typical of Asselijn, both compositions reflect the influence of Van Laer, who was the first Dutch artist to experiment with sun-lit landscapes seen through archway settings of either grottos or ruins. See for example his etching of bandits in a grotto (A. CH. Steland-Stief, op. cit., plate XIV). Asselijn gradually developed the idiom by reducing the importance of the staffage and introducing classical ruins.
See colour illustration