Getting into Old Masters: Landscapes
31 October 2022 Typically defined as the work of top artists working in Europe before 1800, Old Master art is one of the most traditional collecting fields. Defined by figures such as Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Turner, the field can seem intimidating. But don’t be put off. In this series we examine some of the basic definitions and categories of Old Master art.
Maybe you’re thinking Old Master pictures are OK as an idea, but you wouldn’t have them in your modern clean-lined home. In fact, that’s one of the places they work best, since they stand out against cool, crisply painted walls. This is demonstrated in Van Ham’s photograph of a mountainous riverscape by Jan Griffier (1645/52-1718). It was previously in the collection of an architect with an interest in the 20th century painting style Feinmalerei and the Dutch Golden Age painting that inspired it. This is thought to be a view of the Rhine and has an estimate of £30,000-40,000 in the auction of November 17.
Old Master landscape offer their share of symbolism and significance, but this is also one of the most democratic of Old Master categories. Most people can enjoy a landscape – and this sometimes gets them written off as dull or old-fashioned.
Don’t be so hasty. One particular pleasure of the Old Master landscape is seeing a familiar view through a historic lens. These scenes are often in Europe, though they can be of more exotic locales. Pictures of identifiable locations are often pricier than their counterpart, capricci or imaginary views.
Moody skies and sweeping vistas can add a touch of drama to the interior. Sometimes landscapes come with a dramatic scene nestled in one corner, adding a little hidden interest.
Here we look at a sampling of Old Master landscapes coming up on thesaleroom.com.
Jan Dircks Both (1615-52), a Dutch painter of Italianate landscape paintings who was well known in his day, painted this wooded landscape with travellers. Typical of his style, it is offered for £10,000-15,000 at Roseberys Old Master, British and European pictures sale of November 16.
Above we mentioned the ‘capriccio’, essentially a made-up scene. This is a prime example, though it is based in the real location of Venice. The anonymous 18th century Italian scene is executed in pen and brown ink and grey wash and is from the estate of the late designer Anthony Powell. It has an estimate of £150-200 in Roseberys’ auction of November 16.
However, the same sale has a scene from closer to home, too. This is a pen, ink and grey wash of the ruins of Verdley Castle in Sussex. Possibly you know the side, though the ruins themselves are now gone, or are just a fan of Sussex scenes. Either way, this drawing by Swiss artist Samuel Hieronymous Grimm (1733-94) is at the more affordable end of the Old Masters spectrum with an estimate of £100-150.
Estimated at £32,000-40,000, this lot comes with a series of four paintings representing The Four Seasons. Such series were fairly common in the 16th-18th centuries, as were other series such as the five senses. Depictions of the seasons are a chance to mix styles of painting, and in these four, Dutch artist Jacques-Guillame van Blarenberghe (1679/91-1742) has included little figural genre scenes in the foreground of sweeping landscapes. Van Ham in Cologne offers it as par of its Fine Art Auction on November 17.
Auktionshaus im Kinsky of Vienna offers this river landscape with two farm wagons under tall trees as part of its sale of the collection of Erna Weidinger on November 8-9. It is the work of Salomon van Ruysdael who specialised in river scenes and has an estimate of £80,000-150,000.
