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Winter Landscape with Figures in a Snowstorm
Aert van der Neer (Dutch, 1603 or 1604–1677)
about 1655-60
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
60.8 x 75.7 cm (23 15/16 x 29 13/16 in.)
Framed: 84.5 x 101.9 cm (33 1/4 x 40 1/8 in.)
Framed: 84.5 x 101.9 cm (33 1/4 x 40 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession Number2022.1915
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Although many artists in the 17th century painted winter landscapes, depictions of actual snowstorms are quite rare. Van der Neer was one of the few Dutch artists of the time to treat the subject of a heavy snowfall. This work, set in a generic Dutch locale, was surprisingly labor-intensive to produce—after completing the image, the artist painted in thousands of miniscule snowflakes.
ProvenanceDiederik Middeldorp, Leiden; October 21, 1761, Middeldorp estate sale, Leiden, lot 7, sold for 180 fl. to Haazebroek for Leendert de Neufville, Amsterdam [see note 1]. Joan Willem Frank (b. 1720 - d. 1761), The Hague; April 5, 1762, Frank estate sale, Francken, The Hague, lot 83, sold for 47 fl. to Hendrik Verschuuring (b. about 1695 – d. 1769), The Hague [see note 2]; September 17, 1770, Verschuuring estate sale, Rietmulder, The Hague, lot 121. 1770, Dale Gallery, London; sold for £400 by Dale Gallery to Sir Francis Cook, 1st Bt. (b. 1817 - d. 1901), Doughty House, Richmond [see note 3]; by descent to his son, Sir Frederick Cook (b. 1844 - d. 1920), Doughty House; by descent to his son, Sir Herbert Cook (b. 1868 - d. 1939), Doughty House [see note 4]; by descent to his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th Bt. (b. 1907 - d. 1978) [see note 5]. 1956, Thomas Agnew (dealer), London, D. Katz (dealer), Dieren, and Edward Speelman (dealer), London [see note 6]. 1956 until about 1973, Sidney van den Bergh (b. 1898 – d. 1977), Wassenar [see note 7]. 1974 until 1977, private collection, South Africa [see note 8]. 1977, Leonard and David Koetser, Geneva and Zurich. Diethelm Doll, Bad Godesberg, Germany. July 9, 2008, anonymous (“Property from a Private Collection”) sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 40 [see note 9]. 2008, sold by Johnny van Haeften, Ltd., London, to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Naples, FL; 2022, gift of Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 6, 2022)
NOTES:
[1] Buyer information according to Johann Kronig, A Catalogue of the Paintings at Doughty House, Richmond, and Elsewhere in the Collection of Sir Frederick Cook, vol. 2 (London, 1914), no. 294. The painting does not appear in the 1763 or 1765 Neufville sales.
[2] Listed as lot 83 in the sale catalogue, but as lot 33 in Gerard Hoet, Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schilderyen, vol. 3 (The Hague, 1770). Buyer information according to handwritten annotation in the sale catalogue.
[3] According to Kronig (as above, n. 1), the painting was “bought from Dale (?) for £400”. Peter Sutton, Masters of 17th-Century Dutch Landscape Painting (Amsterdam, 1987), cat. no. 61, notes the painting was with the Dale Gallery, London, in 1770.
[4] Sir Herbert Cook lent the painting to the Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Dutch Art 1450-1900 (London, 1923), cat. no. 203, and the Exhibition of 17th Century Art in Europe (London, 1938), cat. no 133.
[5] According to the 2008 Sotheby’s catalogue.
[6] Information about Agnew's, Katz, and Speelman is taken from Sutton 1987 (as above, n. 2), Kurt Mullenmeister, Meer und Land im Licht des 17. Jahrhunderts (Bremen, 1973), and Wolfgang Schulz, Aert van der Neer (Doornspijk, 2002), cat. no. 65.
[7] The painting was lent from the van den Bergh collection to the 1967 exhibition The Age of Rembrandt, cat. no. 52.
[8] Frederik Duparc, Golden: Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (New Haven, 2011), cat. 41.
[9] According to the 2008 Sotheby’s catalogue, the seller purchased the painting from David Koetser, Zurich. Duparc 2011 (as above, n. 8) notes the painting was with Leonard and David Koetser in 1977, and was owned by Diethelm Doll after 1977 and before the 2008 sale.
NOTES:
[1] Buyer information according to Johann Kronig, A Catalogue of the Paintings at Doughty House, Richmond, and Elsewhere in the Collection of Sir Frederick Cook, vol. 2 (London, 1914), no. 294. The painting does not appear in the 1763 or 1765 Neufville sales.
[2] Listed as lot 83 in the sale catalogue, but as lot 33 in Gerard Hoet, Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schilderyen, vol. 3 (The Hague, 1770). Buyer information according to handwritten annotation in the sale catalogue.
[3] According to Kronig (as above, n. 1), the painting was “bought from Dale (?) for £400”. Peter Sutton, Masters of 17th-Century Dutch Landscape Painting (Amsterdam, 1987), cat. no. 61, notes the painting was with the Dale Gallery, London, in 1770.
[4] Sir Herbert Cook lent the painting to the Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Dutch Art 1450-1900 (London, 1923), cat. no. 203, and the Exhibition of 17th Century Art in Europe (London, 1938), cat. no 133.
[5] According to the 2008 Sotheby’s catalogue.
[6] Information about Agnew's, Katz, and Speelman is taken from Sutton 1987 (as above, n. 2), Kurt Mullenmeister, Meer und Land im Licht des 17. Jahrhunderts (Bremen, 1973), and Wolfgang Schulz, Aert van der Neer (Doornspijk, 2002), cat. no. 65.
[7] The painting was lent from the van den Bergh collection to the 1967 exhibition The Age of Rembrandt, cat. no. 52.
[8] Frederik Duparc, Golden: Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (New Haven, 2011), cat. 41.
[9] According to the 2008 Sotheby’s catalogue, the seller purchased the painting from David Koetser, Zurich. Duparc 2011 (as above, n. 8) notes the painting was with Leonard and David Koetser in 1977, and was owned by Diethelm Doll after 1977 and before the 2008 sale.