(Antwerp 1612–1653)
A pier near a tavern by a river,
inscribed and dated by a later hand (in the boat): VGoyen 1644,
oil on panel, 40.5 x 56 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Richard Green, London;
Anonymous sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 11 March 1975, lot 111;
private collection, Vienna

We are grateful to Ellis Dullaart of the RKD, The Hague, for confirming that the present painting, listed at the RKD under no. 235858, as an autograph work by Gillis Peeters on the basis of a professional photograph. She dates the work to the 1640s. Canal and river landscapes by Gillis Peeters dating from the same period and which are comparable to the present composition stylistically and thematically are: 1. Canal Landscape, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf; 2. Canal Landscape, sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 20 March 1973; 3. River Landscape, Galerie Douwes, Amsterdam (1973); 4. Coastal Landscape, private collection, Netherlands; 5. River Landscape, dated 1641, sale, Christie’s, London, 2 April 1976.

The painter and engraver Gillis Peeters was a brother of the marine painters Bonaventura and Jan I Peeters. Having completed his apprenticeship with Anthony Claesz II, he became a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1634/35. It seems that he worked in the Dutch colonies for some time, where he rendered landscapes in a topographically precise style.