(Leiden 1596–1676 The Hague)
A river landscape with Utrecht’s Pelekussenpoort,
signed and dated lower right: VGOYEN 1643 (?),
oil on panel, 39.5 x 60.3 cm, framed

Provenance:
Empress Catherine II of Russia;
her bequest to the Hermitage, St. Petersburg;
sale, H. Ball and P. Graupe, Berlin, 28 June 1932, lot 12;
sale, Christie’s, New York, 21 May 1992, lot 69;
with Dr A. Wieg Fine Art, Amsterdam, 1997;
Private collection, The Netherlands

Literature:
G. F. Waagen, Die Gemäldesammlung in der Kaiserlichen Eremitage zu
St. Petersburg, Munich 1864, p. 241;
Ermitage Impérial: Catalogue de la Galerie des Tableaux, Les écoles germaniques, St. Petersburg 1870, p. 245, no. 1128;
Ermitage Impérial: Catalogue de la Galerie des Tableaux, Les écoles germaniques, St. Petersburg 1885, p. 245, no. 1128;
A. Somof, Ermitage Imperial: Catalogue de la Galerie des Tableaux écoles néerlandaises et école allemande, St. Petersburg 1895, p. 113, no. 1128;
A. Somof, Ermitage Imperial: Catalogue de La Galerie des Tableauy écoles néerlandaises et école allemande, St. Petersburg 1901, p. 129, no. 1128;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue raisonné…, vol. VIII, London 1927, p. 209, no. 854;
H. Volhard, Die Grundtypen der Landschaftsbilder Jan van Goyens und ihre Entwicklung, Frankfurt/Main, 1927, pp. 120 and 180;
W. Stechow, Die ‘Pelekussenpoort’ bei Utrecht auf Bildern Jan van Goyens und S. van Ruysdaels, in: Oud Holland, LV, 1938, p. 206;
A. Dobrzycka, Jan van Goyen 1596–1676, Poznan 1966, p. 108, no. 145;
H.-U. Beck, Jan van Goyen 1596–1676, vol. II, Amsterdam 1973–1987, p. 327, no. 721; vol. III, p. 229, no. 721.1

Around 1643, Jan van Goyen began to increasingly add colour to his hitherto almost monochromatic landscapes in order to achieve a more realistic effect. In this later period, architectural set pieces like churches, castles, ruins, gates, and towers played an important role in his art. These architectural elements were transferred into other contexts in the manner of a capriccio. The Pelekussenpoort in Utrecht shown in the present composition was also depicted by Van Goyen’s contemporaries, among them Jan van de Capelle and Salomon van Ruysdael, who similarly had little interest in a topographically accurate positioning of the gate.