(Dordrecht 1620–1691)
A guard house on a river with Dordrecht in the distance,
signed lower right: A. Cuyp,
oil on panel, 37.5 x 53.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
François-Etienne, Duc de Choiseul-Amboise (1719–1785), Paris;
Choiseul sale, 6 April, 1722 (withdrawn) and sold in November 1775;
M. Lapeyrière sale, Lacoste, Paris, April 14 1817, lot 28;
Collection of George Affleck, acquired with the Swinton Estate in 1882 by Samuel Cunliffe-Lister, later Lord Masham, and by descent until sold;
Anonymous sale, Christie’s, London, 28 November 1975, lot 53;
with Agnews, London;
Private collection, Australia;
Anonymous sale;
Christie’s, London, 6 December 2007, lot 61

Exhibited:
London, Agnew’s, Agnew’s 175th Anniversary, 9 June–24 July 1992, no. 5

Literature:
F. Basa, Recueil d’estampes gravées d’après les tableaux du Cabinet de M. le Duc de Choiseul, 1771, p.6, no.64 (engr);
W. Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting etc., II, p.229 (7);
J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné, V, 1834 (137);
A. Gabeau, La Galerie de Tableaux du Duc de Choiseul, Réunion des Sociétés des Beaux Arts, 1904, p.252;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue of Dutch Pictures, 1909, II, (167,655);
H. Gerson, Aelbert Cuyps gezicht van het « Wachthuis in de kil », Opus Musvium, 1964, pp.257-69;
S. Reiss, The Old Guard house by Aelbert Cuyp, Burlington Magazine, February 1978, p.86 ff

The guard house depicted in this work has been identified in a further three other works by the artist: in a marine scene (collection of the Earl of Dartmouth), the ice scene in the Bodemuseum, Berlin, and in a river scene formerly in the Mayer Collection, The Hague.

Dr. Alan Chong regards this work as from the early maturity of the artist, circa 1647.