Indistinctly signed, oil on panel, and a pair by the same hand 'Children playing in a riverside town' (2) (Dimensions: 38.5cm x 34cm (15.25in x 13.25in))

(38.5cm x 34cm (15.25in x 13.25in))

Provenance: John, 4th Earl & 1st Marquess of Breadalbane, FRS. (1762-1834) For the collection at Taymouth Castle, Perthshire, John, 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane KT. FRS. PSA. PBA. (1796 -1862), His elder sister, Lady Elizabeth Pringle (1794-1878) Langton House, Duns, Her daughter, The Hon. Mrs Robert Baillie-Hamilton, died 1912, Her sister, Lady Hervey, died 1913, godmother & first cousin twice removed of, Lt. Col. The Hon. Thomas Morgan-Grenville-Gavin (1891-1965) Grandfather of the present owner Note: These paintings are recorded in Christie's Manson & Woods 1853 Inventory of Taymouth Castle as hanging in Bedroom No.8

Footnote: Note: Cornelis Droochsloot was a son of Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot (1586 – 1666), the prolific Utrecht painter of village scenes, landscapes, genre pictures, moral allegories and biblical stories. The present charming and well preserved pair by Cornelis Droochsloot show several groups of children engrossed in different kind of playing. On the square of a village we see two boys blowing a bladder as if it is a balloon, an elegantly dressed young fellow is running with a hoop, two boys are walking on stilts and in the centre a group is parading as young soldiers of a civic guard. Near the village pump three youngsters are bowling. The second painting shows two girls on hobby horses, three lads are jumping leapfrog, while others play different games while one is playing a little violin. The joyful playing takes place near a moat, a castle beyond at the right. Typical of Cornelis Droochsloot´s imagery is the scant use of shadow, his figures and architecture cast very little shadow on their surroundings. As in the works of his father, the architecture in the present paintings is used to provide scale and structure to the suggested space. The buildings function as coulisses on a stage of a play. The figures of the young people show, in the way they are executed, the influence of Esaias van de Velde, who died in 1630. On stylistic grounds we might assume these are relatively early works executed before 1660. We are grateful to Drs Luuk Pijl who has confirmed the attribution to Cornelis Droochsloot on the basis of photographs.