Jan van Goyen
Coastal Landscape with a Ferry and a Tower in the Background
Oil on panel. 44.5 x 69.5 cm.
Indistinctly monogrammed and dated on the treetrunk in the lower left: G 1640.
The low horizon line of this painting, in which sky and water touch in the background on the right, as well as the strikingly delicate, almost pastel-like colours of the composition combine to lend it the calm, contemplative character that characterises van Goyen's best works. In contrast to his early tone-in-tone paintings, the Dutchman found his way to a highly refined colour palette in the middle phase of his creative period.
The calm waters reflect the sky and the flat shore of the mid-ground with its towers, trees and bushes, as well as the sails of distant boats. The foreground is formed by a shoreline on which we see three men meeting and a docking ferry loaded with people and cattle.
Provenance
Collection of Sir Thomas Beauchamp Proctor, Langley Hall Norfolk, cat. 1815. - Auction of the estate of Sir Reginald Proctor-Beauchamp, Sotheby´s London 11.06.1947, no. 24 (illustrated). - Auctioned by R. F. Watson, Sotheby´s London 30.06.1971, no. 11 (illustrated). - A. Brod London. - St. Lucas art dealers, Vienna, Spring exhibition 1972, no. 5 (illustrated). - In a German private collection since 1972.
Literature
U. Beck: Jan van Goyen 1596 - 1656. Ein Oevreverzeichnis, Augsburg 1973, p. 333, no. 736.