Lot 2511 Dα

Paintings were occasionally divided or trimmed in earlier times, either because they were to be fitted into a wall panelling or because parts of the work were damaged, for example during war. Sometimes, however, paintings - especially those in landscape format - were also divided in order to sell them individually afterwards. Hans-Ulrich Beck, the author of the catalogue raisonné on the Dutch artist Jan van Goyen, compiled some examples of such works in an essay in 1999. According to this, the present charming small work, which shows a view of a sweeping landscape and bears the monogram "VG", could have been part of a larger piece with a view of Haarlem in the distance, to which two other fragments are thought to belong, which were sold on the Paris and London art markets respectively.