(Amsterdam 1638–1709)
A wooden landscape with Bentheim castle,
oil on canvas, 57 x 72.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Smith Collection;
J. Woodin Collection (1810);
G. Pennell Collection;
sale, Philips, Bath, W. Beckford, Fonthill Abbey, 10 October 1823, lot 229;
D. W. Acraman Collection, Bristol (1835)
Pavlovsk Palace Museum, Hermitage, St. Petersburg (until 1930);
sale, Lepke, Berlin, 1 April 1930, lot 56 (as Jacob van Ruysdael);
Galerie Internationale, The Hague (c. 1930);
sale, Fischer, Lucerne, 18 August 1931, lot 257 (as Jacob van Ruysdael);
Private collection, Switzerland

Literature:
J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, vol. 6, London, 1835, no. 196 (as J. van Ruisdael);
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Work of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, vol. 4, London, 1911, no. 29, p. 16;
S. Slive, Jacob van Ruisdael, A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, Drawings and Etchings, New Haven/London, 2001, p. 612, cat. no. Dub3 (as first version of this composition, but not by Ruisdael)

We are grateful to Christopher Wright for confirming the authenticity of the present painting. A certificate, dated 3 January 2016 is available.

The present painting, which dates from the mid-1650s, repeats a composition by Ruisdael preserved in the collection of Lord Jacob Rothschild in London. As the late Seymour Slive only knew the present canvas and the Rothschild picture from old photographs, he rejected both, while considering the present painting to be the best version. Recent assessment of the two paintings at first hand has confirmed the Rothschild painting is Ruisdael’s prototype, while the present painting is a fine and free replica by Hobbema, Ruisdael’s most important pupil.

While Ruisdael’s lushly green foliage seems somewhat bleak, Hobbema’s warmer and more liberal treatment of the foliage results in a more colourful and autumnal appeal. In his certificate, Christopher Wright observes: ‘So strong is Hobbema’s reinterpretation of Ruisdael that this picture acts as a turning point in Hobbema’s work when he was breaking away from Ruisdael’s benign but powerful influence.’

As to the painting’s provenance: in the late 1920s, the Soviet Union was in need of foreign currency in order to be able to finance the country’s industrialisation. Having already sold large amounts of its jewellery, furniture, and icons, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg saw itself forced to part with 250 paintings, including masterpieces by Titian, Rembrandt, and Rubens. These works were then sold by Lepke in Berlin in 1930 and 1931. As many as 21 works from the Hermitage were purchased by the great collector Andrew Mellon, who later donated them to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, where they were to form the core of its famous collection.