Signed lower right with initials: PHW
Oil on panel: 14 x 13 1/2inches / 35.4 x 31.7 cm
ENGRAVED:
Jean Moyreau (1690-1762), when in the cabinet of Crozat de Tugny, no. 3, La Chasse aux Canards
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Provenance:
Joseph-Antoine Crozat, baron and later marquis de Tugny (1696-1751), Paris, by 1737;
Gerrit Muller estate sale, Amsterdam, April 2, 1827, lot 82, to Nieuwenhuys;
Chrétien Jean Nieuwenhuys (1799-1883)
His estate sale, Christie’s London, May 10, 1833, lot 69, (“the colour is of a clear and brilliant tone, the touch is easy and sprightly, and it would be difficult to find a second picture as scientifically executed.”), to Artis for Bevan;
Henry Bevan, London, 1842;
Charles-Auguste, Duc de Morny (1811-1865);
His estate sale, Paris, May 31, 1865, lot 89;
Khalil-Bey;
His sale, January 16-18, 1868, lot 108;
Prince Paul Demidoff (1839-1925);
His sale, Paris, April 1-3, 1869, lot 33;
M.C.G. de Candamo;
His sale, Galerie Charpentier, Paris December 14-15, 1933, lot 47;
Anonymous sale (Mr. and Mrs. L.C.);
Sale, Palais Galliéra, Paris December 14, 1960, lot 15;
There purchased by Professor René Küss
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Literature:
J. Moyreau, Oeuvres de Philips Wouwerman, Hollandais, Gravées d’après ses Meilleurs Tableaux qui sont dans les plus beaux cabinets de Paris et ailleurs, Paris, 1737-1762, no. 3;
J. Smith, A catalogue raisonné….etc., vol. I, London, 1829, no. 328; vol. IX, 1842, no. 128;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A catalogue raisonné…etc., vol. II, London, 1909, pp. 455-6, no. 643;
B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman, vol. I, Doornspijk, 2006,
p. 238, no. A171
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Philips Wouwerman was the eldest son of the painter Paulus Joostens Wouwerman of Alkemaar, and is presumed to have trained first with his father in Haarlem. According to Cornelis de Bie, he was then apprenticed to Frans Hals, although little in his technique or choice of subject-matter seems to support the statement. He also worked in Hamburg for a short time in 1638/39 in the studio of the history painter, Evert Decker, soon returning to Haarlem where he remained for the rest of his life. He became a member of the Guild of St. Luke there in 1640, and in 1646 was elected vender (agent or finder).
No evidence has been found that Wouwerman ever traveled to Italy or France, but the many southern elements in his landscapes have often led to the speculation of such a journey. He was however greatly influenced by the subject matter and painterly style of Pieter van Laer, who had returned to his native Haarlem from Rome in 1638. Van Laer was a key member of the Bamboccianti, the group of mainly Dutch artists that worked in Rome in the mid seventeenth century, who chose to depict insignificant or low-life genre scenes, using caravaggesque light and color. They were tremendously influential in the development of genre painting in both The Netherlands and Italy. Houbraken even stated that Wouwerman had obtained sketches and drawings by van Laer after the elder artist’s death in 1642.
Philips Wouwermans was clearly one of the most versatile and prolific artists of the Dutch Golden Age. He made important and highly influential contributions to the canon of seventeenth-century Dutch painting and is best known for his spirited scenes of battles, encampments, cavalry skirmishes, and hunts. Of these he painted several hundred, all characterized by brilliant color, vivacity, and superb composition. He was without question the most successful Dutch 17th century painter of horses. However, his sensitive rendering of landscapes also mark him as one of the greatest of all Dutch painters of the age. These scenes in which he combined genre and landscape were highly prized, especially in 18th and early 19th century France, and this late romantic scene by Wouwerman is just the type of work that so inspired the landscapes of Fragonard. The early provenance of “Landscape with Duck Hunter” strongly underlines the popularity of Wouwerman’s work in France.
By 1737 the picture was in the collection of Joseph-Antoine Crozat, baron and subsequently marquis de Tugny (1696-1750), the best known member of a family of prominent French financiers and art collectors by 1737. He formed a fabulous collection of paintings, statues, drawings and prints, as well as a number of books on the fine arts.
The picture was later owned by Charles Auguste, later duc de Morny, who was the son of Hortense de Beauharnais and Charles-Joseph, comte de Flahaut, and thereby the half brother of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, later Emperor Napoleon III. He had been raised by his paternal grandmother Madame de Souza, who owned a fine collection of paintings, and it was from her he inherited his love of art. In 1837 he abandoned his military career and in 1842 entered politics, becoming deputy for Clermont-Ferrand. It was at this time he began to amass his collection of paintings.
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