PIETER JANSZ. POST (Haarlem 1608 – 1669 The Hague) A Panoramic View of the Dunes near Haarlem Oil on canvas, 29½ x 39¼ ins. (75 x 99.5 cm) Provenance: With Kleinberger, Paris, circa 1900 (as Joris van der Haagen) Gifted to Professor Wilhelm Martin (1876-1954) by a group of Dutch art dealers to mark his silver jubilee at the Mauritshuis on 2 January 1926 Thence by descent to his son Dr. Rudolf Martin (d. 1972), by whom taken to Calgary, Canada in 1967 Thence by descent to the previous owner, until 2013 Literature: S. J. Gudlaugsson, “Aanvullingen omtrent Pieter Post’s werkzaamheid als schilder”, in Oud Holland, 69, 1954, pp. 59-71, illustrated J. J. Terwen, K. Ottenheym, Pieter Post (1608-1669): architect, Zutphen, 1993, p. 246 (addendum IV, under attributions) Q. Buvelot, A Choice Collection: Seventeenth-century Dutch paintings from the Fritz Lugt Collection, exh. cat., Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis, The Hague, 2002, pp. 139, 140, 214, fig. 24d. VP4648 This superbly atmospheric painting depicts a broad sweep of countryside in the vicinity of Haarlem. The view, taken from slightly raised ground, looks down over undulating dunes that give way to a flat coastal plain, with hedgerows and verdant pastures dotted with grazing animals and farm buildings. In the distance, screens of trees and a solitary beacon delineate the hazy coastline of one of Holland’s vast inland seas. In the foreground, a boy in yellow walks with his dogs on a sandy track that meets the viewer head-on. On the right, lying in deep shade by the side of the road are two recumbent figures, while moving along a track lower down are two horseback riders and a horse-drawn wagon, which is partially obscured by the lie of the land. An oak tree growing by the road on the right spreads its lacy foliage against the sky. With its simple, unpretentious composition and subtle aerial perspective Post conveys a feeling of space and distance. His delicate palette in multiple shades of green, together with the effects of sunlight filtered through high cloud, evokes the fresh new growth of early summer. Although Pieter Post is remembered chiefly as an architect of classicist buildings, he started life as a painter. Only thirteen paintings have survived from the brief period of his activity around 1630 to1633. These are mainly landscapes, but there are also depictions of soldiers plundering a city and four combat scenes. His landscapes nevertheless constitute an original contribution to the early development of the Dutch realistic landscape and helped shape the landscape style of his younger brother Frans (1612-1680). Subsequently, Post pursued a successful career as an architect, working mainly for the court of the stadholder and the government. The present landscape is a variation on a grand scale of Post’s small, signed and dated painting of 1631 in the Lugt Collection, in Parisi. Measuring nearly a metre in width, this is his largest and most ambitious composition. Both in terms of subject and style the painting shows marked affinities with the View of the Haarlem Dunes, in the collection of the Hannema-de Stuers Foundation in Heinoii, by the Haarlem painter Cornelis Vroom (1590/91-1661), who may have been his teacher. The present painting, which is dateable around 1631, nevertheless seems to predate similar works by Vroom, such as the aforementioned, which though undated appear to have been executed in the late 1630s. This painting once belonged to the eminent Dutch art historian and Mauritshuis director Wilhelm Martin (1876-1954). Martin evidently admired the artist’s work for he also owned Post’s Landscape with a Haystack of 1633, which is now in the collection of the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, in The Hague. Baptised in Haarlem on 1 May 1608, Pieter Jansz. Post was the son of Jan Jansz. Post (c. 1575- 1614, a glass-painter from Leiden, and his wife Francijntje Pietersdr. Verbraken (1581-1656) from Haarlem. The couple had married in Haarlem on 19 June 1604. It is not known from whom Pieter learned to paint, but his admission to the St. Luke’s guild is recorded in the year 1623. Doubt has been cast as to the accuracy of this date, since he would have been only 15 years old at that time and could hardly completed his training. Pieter is mentioned by Ampzing in his city chronicle of 1628, along with other Haarlem painters. Pieter’s youngest brother Frans (1612-1680) also became a painter. Post came into contact with architecture from the mid-1630s when he assisted Jacob van Campen with the construction of the Mauritshuis. In 1640 he was put in charge of the building of the Oude Hof, Noordeinde, in The Hague, a building designed by van Campen. In 1646, he was appointed Architect-in-Ordinary to the Stadholder and settled in The Hague. He was also responsible for building the Huis ten Bosch, a country house for Amalia von Solms, the wife of the stadholder Frederik Hendrik. After 1650, during the stadholderless period, Post continued to work for the government. He designed a wide variety of buildings including town houses, country houses, weigh-houses and locks. P.M. i Pieter Post, View of the bleaching fields near Haarlem, signed and dated 1631, on panel, 43.7 x 61.5 cm, Lugt Collection, Institut Néerlandais, Paris, inv. 6331. ii Cornelis Vroom, View of the Haarlem Dunes, signed, panel, 73 x 105 cm, Hannema-de Stuers Foundation, Kasteel het Nijenhuis, Heino, no. 358. .