Lot 1642 Dα

This large-format landscape is among the most significant works painted by the Dutch Romantic artist B. C. Koekkoek during the 1850s. It is certainly the most important image which he created in 1858, and the last great work which he made before suffering from a stroke the following year which ended his career as an artist. However, when he took a sojourn to Saxony in 1857 he was still one of the most well-known landscape painters in Europe.
After painting the landscapes of the Rhine, Moselle and Nahe, he wished to depict the Elbe - another of Europe's great rivers. The present work was painted in his studio in Cleves after a sketch made in situ (Gorissen, Z 57/41, 2), and is the most important of his Saxon landscapes. The work is also interesting due to the fact that it was in the possession of Vincent van Gogh for many years before being sold at auction to a German family in 1889, in whose ownership it has remained ever since.
The left side of the image shows a gnarled old oak beside a forest path upon which a peasant woman on a donkey approaches, whilst a shepherd sleeps by the wayside. The right half of the image opens up onto a panoramic view of the Elb Valley with the “Bärenstein” hills in the background and the Church of Königsstein resting in a shady valley. Beyond the river we see a further town and vineyards bathed in late evening sunlight.