(Dordrecht 1627–1662)
A vast landscape with an elevated castle and a horseman,
oil on canvas, 64.7 x 73.6 cm, framed

Inscribed with an attribution to Jan Both on an old label on the reverse.

Provenance:
with Agnew’s, London (according to a label on the reverse);
Private collection, USA;
Private collection, Austria

We are grateful to Ellis Dullaart of the RKD, for identifying the present painting as a work by Adriaen van Eemont on the basis of a photograph.

The present painting, with its atmospheric Italian landscape, is a characteristic work by the Dordrecht-based landscapist, who has only recently returned to the focus of art historical research. Marijke de Kinkelder managed to assign an entire group of paintings to the artist that had been wrongly attributed to Ph. Wouwerman, J. Asselijn, J. Both, and N. Ficke. A very similar unsigned landscape was sold at Sotheby’s, Paris, in 2002 as a work by Jan Both. Eemont is not recorded as having sojourned in Italy, however he is known to have travelled to Paris and Lyon together with Frederick de Moucheron, who probably introduced him to landscapes in the manner of Both. His oeuvre is one of the most impressive ones among the third generation of Dutch Italianates. The high recognition of the collections containing his works indicates that Eemont numbered among the most important Dutch landscape painters of the 17th century. A large painting by Adriaen van Eemont, comparable in terms of composition and details, was sold at Dorotheum, Vienna, on 17 October 2012, lot 517.