(Kortrijk 1576–1639 Utrecht)
A wooded landscape with bathing nymphs and Leda and the Swan,
oil on panel, 46.7 x 61.2 cm, framed

Provenance:
Possibly formerly in the collection Emperor Rudolf II in Prague (cf. the inventory of 1621: ‘Eine Lanschaft mit einem baad vom saverij’ – ‘a landscape with a bath by saverij’);
Collection H. van der Kaa, The Hague;
sale, Frederik Muller, Amsterdam, 2 March 1948, lot 196 (as Jan Brueghel I)

Exhibited:
Gemeente Museum, The Hague, Oude Kunst uit Haagsch Bezit, 1936/37, no. 48 (as Jan Brueghel I)

Literature:
A. Zwollo, Review, in: The Burlington Magazine, October 1990, p. 722, fig. 51 (as Roelant Savery);
idem, Review, in: Oud Holland 106, 1992, p. 40, fig. 6 (as Roelant Savery)

As Zwollo points out in her essay in the Burlington Magazine, the present painting may well be the work by Savery mentioned in the Prague inventory of 1621 (cf. H. Zimmermann, Das Inventar der Prager Schatzund Kunstkammer vom 6. Dezember 1621, in: Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, XXV, 1905, part II, pp. XIII–LXXV, pl. XLIII, inv. no. 1078). Zwollo writes: ‘Judging by the photograph, this seems to be a characteristic work by Savery, with the figures probably added by another hand. It is a version, with different staffage, of the ‘landscape with a hermit and huntsmen’ (Müllenmeister’s no. 42A), which measures 45 by 60.5 cm and is recorded in the Ghent exhibition catalogue as being signed. The ex-Van der Kaa picture may well be the one mentioned in a Prague inventory of 1621 as “1078. Eine Landschaft mit einem baad vom Saverij”….’ The present painting displays many characteristics of Rudolfine art: a precise observation of nature and a realistic rendering of the surroundings perceived, but also the mythological figures, which, apart from their elegant colours, add a subtly erotic note to the composition.