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Alm THE HAMLET IN THE WOOD BY MEINDERT {OBBEMA

SIGNED LOWER LEFT: 'M. HOBBEMA.' ENGRAVED IN AQUATINT BY PRESTEL.

M. KNOEDLER & CO., INC., LONDON, PARIS & NEW YORK ; ; f"

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.. _ . . _ ...... _ _ .fi _ THE HAMLET IN THE WOOD 51) x 381 BY MEINDERT HOBBEMA (1638-170og9)

SIGNED LOWER LEFT: ' M. HOBBEMA.' ENGRAVED IN AQUATINT BY PRESTEL.

nder a radiant blue sky covered with white clouds stands the Hamlet embowered in a wood. To the left, a group of tall oaks, through which can be seen rustic cottages with theirwalls mainly painted pink. To the right, beyond a road winding round, and dis- appearing behind, a small wood, are fields; in the right fore- ground is a small pond which reflects the blue and white of the sky, and the green of the surrounding bushes. In the middle distance, before a cottage, is an open space in strong sunlight, across which walks a man with a stick towards the right. Several other figures animate the scene: a man and woman, preceded by a running dog, cross the winding road, going in the direction of the centre cottage, at the door of which are two figures conversing,while in the left foreground, coming from the oak plantation, is a man in a scarlet coat and another in a black one, both carrying fishing rods. Logs of wood are scattered on the road to the extreme left on which appears the artist's signature. The clouds scud across the sky and the strong wind is particularly noticeable in the trees of the middle and right distance, the great group of oaks to the left being scarcely touched by it. The whole picture gives the impression of a breezy, clear and sunny day. The figures in this composition are said to have been painted by Jan Vermeer of Delft.

Little is known of Hobbema; even less was known before I857, in which year the Art Treasures Exhibition was held at Manchester and eight of his paintings exhibited. His work, however, had always been appreciated in England, fetching good prices at auction even before that date, but henceforward he became very much the fashion. George Scharf, junior,in the catalogue of the 1857 exhibition, says, 'No particulars of his life are known'; W. Burger, writing on this exhibition, praised him warmly, and later, in 1859, wrote very fully of him in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts; further researches were made by Dr. Scheltema and the results published in the same magazine in I864. We now know that the artist lived in all his life, and that he was the friend and companion of Ruisdael and almost certainly his pupil; that they went sketching ex- cursions together and frequently painted the same subject. Hobbema is said to have ended his artistic career in I668, at the age of 3o,when,on his marriage, he received a municipal appointment which left him little time for painting; his master- piece, ' The Avenue, Middelharnis,' now in the , is believed by some critics to have been painted later than this date. Johann Gottlieb Prestel, the engraver (I739-I8O8), de- voted his efforts, like Ploos, to making the works of the old masters accessible to the public; he married his pupil, Maria Catherine Holl, who eventually settled in England. Here a word on the important Six Collection may not be amiss. For so long has the Six Collection at Amsterdam stood open to the Dutch public and to visitors from the ends of the earth, that it came to be looked upon as a public museum, and the news of its sale by its owners caused considerable surprise. The Collection was begun by M. van Winter and augmented by his daughter and her husband, Hendrik Six, descendant of that (16 18-1700), of Amsterdam, merchant, poet and enlightened amateur, and afterwards burgomaster of his city, who was the friend and patron of . Jan's wife was MargarethaTulp, a daughter of Dr.Tulp, another of Rem- brandt's friends and also painted by him. When Lafenestre catalogued the pictures the Gallery was the property of the two brothers, J. P. Six and Six de Vromande. From time to time since 1702, the family has parted with some of its treasures, but in 19o6 and again in 192 I, arrange- ments were made by them for certain of the pictures to go to the nation; some of these are now in the Amsterdam Museum and others will remain in the Six family house, henceforward to be known as the Six Foundation, on the Amstel (the old house on the Heerengracht, where the pictures were hung for so long, was pulled down when improvements were carried out on the harbour). The latest sale was necessitated by the death of Professor Jan Six last year. The price obtained for the above picture is the record for a work by Hobbema.

Exhibited, with the Six Collection, 1900, No. 44. (It may be said that the Six Collection was practically always on exhibition at the Six family house on the Heerengracht and later on the Amstel, for permission could always be obtained to visit it.) Catalogued in John Smith's' Catalogue Raisonne of Dutch, Flemish and French Painters' (London 1835),vi., p. 89.

Mentioned in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1859, in an article on Hobbema by W. Burger, vol. iv.,pp. 34 and 35. Mentioned in IL'Art,' i8 86, in an article entitled 'Mein- dert Hobbema,' by Emile Michel, footnote p. 262.

Catalogued in 'Hobbema,' by Emile Michel (Paris 1890), p. 49. Catalogued in 'La Peinture en Europe-La Hollande' (Paris undated), p. 324. Catalogued in 'Niederlandisches Kunstler-Lexikon,' by Dr. Alfred von Wurzbach (Wein u. Leipzig, 19o6), vol. i., p. 691.

Catalogued in C.Hofstede deGroot's'Catalogue Raisonne of the works of the most eminent Dutch Painters of the i 7th Century' (London 9 12), vol. iv., No. 145.

Described in the 'Apollo' for November 1 92 8,p. 239,in an article entitled'The Six Sale at Amsterdam' byW.Gibson; Reproduced therein on p. 240.

'En Hollande. - Les collections particulieres posscdent quelques Hobbema de premier ordre. Nous citerons les principaux. A Amsterdam,... celui de M. Six van Hillegom est trts-grand et tres-vigoureux; grave a l'aqua tinte par Pristel.' W. BURGER. ' Ere this review is published the pictures will already have realised their prices, but whether they are judged as market- able commodities or as works of art the first among them would be the Hobbema landscape, No. 14. This painting of cottages seen through the trees is a very fine example indeed of Hobbema's work. There is nothing forced or violent about the description of the tone values and the recessions of the foliage and the buildings behind them on the left. But the more one examines them the more one discovers that which Hobbema has noted. It is a wonderful piece of subtle tone notation within a narrow scale, and keeping his scale limited Hobbema has woven the whole passage into one beautiful piece of texture. Then on the right the landscape opens out, the blue sky is reflected in the water in the foreground, and the bright light plays on the grass and the road. How many of these delightful things photography will reproduce it is of course impossible to say, but the original is one of those pictures which yield fresh interests at every inspection. A curious fact in view of the excellence of Hobbema's painting is that all his artistic work was very possibly done in the first thirty years of his life.' WILLIAM GIBSON.

From the Collection of M. Pieter van Winter. From the Collection of Jonkheer Six van Hillegom. From the Collection of the Six family, Amsterdam.

LONDON: STRANGEWAYS, PRINTERS. L. S.

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