(Antwerp 1587–1633)
A man fishing in a stream in a wooded landscape,
oil on panel, 29.5 x 42.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Richard Green, London;
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 17 June 1975, lot 128;
private collection, Vienna

The landscape painting of Marten Ryckaert follows the tradition of the Brueghels and the Valckenborchs. He is regarded as one of the last exponents of this style of landscape painting. However, contrary to earlier examples of this genre, his work is marked by a higher degree of naturalism and a more precise observation of the landscape. In the catalogue Von Bruegel bis Rubens, Das Goldene Jahrhundert der flämischen Malerei (Cologne, 1992, p. 299) one can read about the artist: “Only little is known today about the life and work of Marten Ryckaert. He came from a family of artists based in Antwerp whose most recognised member was Marten’s nephew, David Ryckaert III. Marten Ryckaert was born in the town on the River Scheldt in 1587. In 1611/12 he was admitted as a master to the Guild of St. Luke; he is also documented to have been a member of ‘De Violieren’, a chamber of rhetoric. In Italy, he met Paul Bril, whose work had a great impact on his art. The artist died in Antwerp in 1631 [...]. The painter’s early works are organised according to the scheme of bird’s-eye views, with high horizons and raised vantage points. According to contemporary tendencies, Ryckaert’s style evolved towards increasingly realistic landscapes, which he animated with genre-like figural staffage….” From his teacher, Tobias Verhaecht, Ryckaert adopted a preference for fantastic rock formations with waterfalls; similar to Verhaecht, Ryckaert favoured a cool green. A composition related to the present work, Mountain Landscape with Satyrs, is in the National Gallery in London (inv. no. 1353).