Oil on canvas, relined
Netherlands, around 1650
Jan Baptist Weenix (1621-1660) – Dutch painter of the Golden Age
Signed ‘J. B. Wee***(f)‘ (on stone, lower left)
Overall dimensions, framed: 93.5 x 110 cm
Provenance: Collection of David Conrad Bernhard Hausmann (1784-1873), Hanover; 1857 acquired by Georg V., King of Hanover (1819-1878); from 1869 exhibited in the Provinzial Museum Hanover (Cumberland Gallery, Fideicommiss Gallery); 1925 auctioned at Rudolph Lepke, since then German private collection (on request detailed information from the Art Loss Register will be provided)
Jan Baptist Weenix often painted idealized Italianate landscapes inhabited by realistically portrayed figures, as in this exquisite example - paintings by Jan Baptist Weenix fetch up to more than 370,000 euros at international auctions

The painting by Jan Baptist Weenix depicts a horseman resting next to his horse before an archway and architectural ruins. A small hunting party, is visible in the distance. Behind the figures, the scenery opens up to an open southern landscape, with a city on the horizon. Jan Baptist Weenix, who called himself Giovanni Battista in his Italian years, began to depict Italianate landscapes with architectural capriccios at the end of the 1640s. He filled these landscapes with characters of all sorts: travelers, horsemen, children and beggars found their way into Weenix’s paintings. This inclusion results in an interesting contrast between the romantic idealized description of the nature and the realistically depicted figures, often painted from life.



The painting is signed lower left ‘J. B. We***(f)‘. The painting is in good condition considering its age. The canvas has been relined; the varnish is rather dark. A small loss of the canvas (2 x 0.5 cm), is concealed by the frame. There are some minor abrasions along the lower edges. There is a small restoration to the left sleeve of the horseman. The black-golden frame shows some age related marks. On the back of the frame is an old label from the Fideikommiss-Galerie. The stretcher frame shows some old inventory numbers. The canvas is painted with a red, crowned ‘R‘. The dimensions of the stretcher are 75 x 91 cm, whereas the framed painting measures 93.5 x 110 cm.



Provenance

The painting was exhibited in the Provincial Museum, Hanover (later renamed Landesmuseum Hanover). The provenance can be traced back to the collection of David Bernhard Conrad Haussmann (1784-1873). In 1857 he sold the painting to George V, King of Hanover (1819-1878). In the late 1860s, the painting was confiscated by the Prussian government and

was exhibited in in the Provincial Museum. Later, the painting was restituted to the Hannover Family and lent to the Fideicommiss Gallery. The picture was finally auctioned in 1925 at Rudolph Lepke and has since then been held in a German private collection (on request a detailed disclosure from the Art Loss Register will be provided)



Jan Baptist Weenix (1621-1660)

Jan Baptist Weenix was the son of an architect from Amsterdam who probably received his first artistic education from his brother in law and from Abraham Bloemaert in Utrecht and Claes Cornelisz. Moeyaert in Amsterdam later. Weenix lived in Rome in between 1642-47, where he joined the society of the Dutch and Flemish painters, called Bentveughels. He is known in Italy under his Italian name Giovanni Battista Weenix. He was extremely successful received commissions to paint for the pope amongst others. Two years after his return to Utrecht, he joined the St. Luke’s guild specializing in Italianate landscapes and becoming very successful. His works hangs, amongst the others, in many US-American museums, in the Wallace Collection in London, in the Louvre and in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.