JORIS VAN DER HAAGEN (Arnhem c. 1615 - The Hague 1669)
and
LUDOLF DE JONGH (Overschie 1616 - Hillegersberg 1679)
The Horse Cart
oil on canvas
30 1/4 x 28 5/16 inches (76.8 x 72.1 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Marquise d’Aoust, Paris
Collection de Madame la Marquise de X (d’Aoust), Galerie George Petit, Paris, June 5, 1924, lot 40, signed and dated P. Potter F. 1645, illustrated (as by Joris van der Hagen) where purchased by
F. Kleinberger Galleries, Inc., Paris, no. 9757 (as by Joris van der Hagen)
Presumably Gimbel Brothers, New York, 1944 (as by Joris van der Hagen)
Schaeffer Galleries, New York, 1946 from whom acquired by
Dr. Edgar P. Richardson (Director of the Detroit Institute of Arts) & Mrs. Contance Coleman Richardson, 1946 – 2002
Dr. & Mrs. Edgar P. Richardson sale, Sotheby’s, New York, June 5, 2002, lot 55 (as by Joris van der Hagen with figures by Ludolf de Jongh) where acquired by
Johnny van Haeften, LTD, London (as by Joris van der Haagen with figures by Ludolf de Jongh)
Anonymous sale, Christie’s, London, July 9, 2008, lot 187 (as by Joris van der Haagen with figures by Ludolf de Jongh)
Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts, 2009 (as by Joris van der Haagen with figures by Ludolf de Jongh) from whom acquired by
Private Collection, New Jersey, 2009 until the present time
LITERATURE
”Collection de la Marquise de X” In Beaux – Arts : Chronique des Arts et de la Curiosité, volume 2, Gazette des Beaux – Arts, Paris, 1924, p. 272
”Les Ventes” in La Revue de l’Ancien et Moderne, volume 46, Paris, June – December 1924, p. 199
Hofstede de Groot Fiches, card no. 1196905, box number 108, June 5, 1924 at data.rkd.nl/collections
J. K. Van der Haagen, De Schilders Van der Haagen en hun Werk met Catalogus van de Schilderijen en Teekeningen van Joris van der Haagen, 1932, no.387 (as by Joris van der Haagen)
Photo certificate from Wilhelm Rheinhold Valentiner signed and dated June 15, 1943 (as by Joris van der Hagen) now lost
Presumably advertisement for Gimbel Brothers in ARTnews, volume 42, issue 17, 1944, p. 35
J. Verbeek and J. W. Schotman, Hendrick ten Oever. Een vergeten Overijssels meester uit de zeventiende eeuw, Zwolle, 1957, p. 32, illustrated (as by Hendrick ten Oever)
Kurt J.Müllenmeister, Meer und Land im Licht des 17. Jahrhunderts, volume 3, C. Schünemann, Bremen, c. 1973 – 1981, p. 14 (as by Joris van der Hagen, from the Detroit Institute of Art)
This landscape with a horse-drawn cart is remarkable for the simplicity and drama of its composition. Van der Haagen has created a powerful image from the most basic elements of the rural Dutch landscape-the vertical of a large tree and the flat expanse of the horizon. With an almost abstract aesthetic, he has divided the rectangle of the picture plane into two L shaped areas of light and dark that echo one another. The tracks made by countless cartwheels on the dirt road lead the eye into the composition from the lower left and over a bridge into a distant village. Although movement through the landscape is ostensibly the subject of this work, the figures seem somehow arrested, as frozen in time as an early photographic portrait. The sound of the horse clomping along the road has been silenced, long afternoon shadows cool the center of the composition, and no fluttering birds interrupt the expanse of the blue sky. The stillness of the painting is epitomized by the bulky cow at the left standing in a patch of sunlight and staring blankly ahead.
Joris van der Haagen was most likely the son and pupil of the Arnhem painter Abraham van der Haagen.[1] Sometime after 1640 he settled in The Hague, where he remained until his death in May 1669. He became a member of the city's St. Luke's guild in 1643 and was elected dean in 1653. His two sons, Cornelis (1651-c.1689) and Jacobus (1657- I7I5), were also painters as was his grandson, Joris Cornelisz (1676-c.1745). Jacobus painted still lifes while Joris Cornelisz specialized in landscape and seems to have worked in Ireland. Joris himself may also have travelled. Works such as Extensive Wooded Landscape (The Hague, Museum Bredius), for example, suggest that he spent time in the hillier countryside of the eastern Netherlands. He painted panoramic views of Arnhem and Cleve and of areas in the south near Maastricht. He also made a number of drawings during sketching expeditions to the wooded area of the Hoge Veluwe, including extensive views over the Rhine Valley. His drawings are remarkable for their panoramic views, typically in grey wash and black chalk on several sheets of white or blue paper.[2] -Meridith M. Hale
It is believed that Ludolf de Jongh began his training circa 1628-30 and was first apprenticed to Cornelis Saftleven in Rotterdam. He next moved to Delft to study with Anthonie Palamedsz. followed by a period in Utrecht in the studio of Jan van Bylert. Probably sometime after 1635, he left for France where he stayed for the next seven years. Most of this period is thought to have been spent painting portraits. By 1646 De Jongh had returned to Rotterdam and married Adriana Pieters Montagne of Schoonhoven. There his work also included scenes of genre usually set indoors, as well as figural landscapes typically incorporating themes of the hunt. Due to “his skill as a figure and animal painter (he) was called upon to provide staffage for the landscapes of Joris van der Haagen.”[3]
Dr. Edgar P. Richardson was the director of the Detroit Institute of Arts from 1945 – 1962. He was the co-founder of the Archives of American Art now part of the Smithsonian Institution. He wrote the seminal work Painting in America in 1956. After his tenure in Detroit he became the first professional director of The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum. Constance Coleman Richardson was a painter of landscapes whose works were acquired by the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; and the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana. Collecting for nearly 70 years, their collection included old master paintings, drawings and prints, American paintings and drawings, as well as Greek and Roman Antiquities and Renaissance works of art.
In 2002 when this painting was sold by Sotheby’s, Marijke C. de Kinkelder of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague confirmed the painting to be by Joris van der Haagen with figures by Ludolf de Jongh.
[1] For a study of the family, see J.K. van der Haagen, De schilders van der Haagen en hun wert (Voorburg, t932).
[2] "See, for example, View near Elten, 1660 (Berlin). For a discussion of his drawings (they are often confused with those of Anthoni Waterlo and Simon de Vlieger) see W.W. Robinson, "Early Drawings by Joris van der Haagen," Master Drawings XXVIII / 3 (1990), p. 303-09.
[3] Roland E. Fleischer, Ludolf de Jongh, Davaco, Doornspijk, 1989, pp. 13-16, 19, 85.