Lot 1519 Dα

Adriaen van Stalbemt is considered one of the finest landscape painters in the circle of Jan Brueghel the Elder, who was only 12 years his senior. In earlier times, works by Stalbemt were often attributed to the latter, including this wooded mountain landscape.
Born in Antwerp to Reformed parents, Stalbemt left the city in 1585 for Middelburg, where he trained as an artist. He returned to Antwerp in 1609 and became a member of the Guild of St. Luke in the same year. This allowed him to set up his own workshop as an independent artist. The fact that Stalbemt was appointed dean of the guild in 1617 indicates that he had soon acquired recognition in the Antwerp artistic scene of the early 17th century and was able to hold his own alongside the dominant families of the Brueghels and Francken, and of course Peter Paul Rubens.
Klaus Ertz and Christa Nitze-Ertz date the present work to the years 1610/1615.