A wide wooded landscape, oil on canvas, 182 x 236.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
European private collection.

Literature:
De uitvinding van het landschap, van Patinir tot Rubens, exh. cat., Antwerp 2004, p. 274, colour ill. Exhibited: De uitvinding van het landschap, van Patinir tot Rubens, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, May – August 2004, no. 96.

Not only because of its dimensions, but also and primarily because of its quality, the present painting can be considered an important work by Jacques d’Arthois. It was the only work by this painter that was on display in an exhibition of Flemish landscape painting in Antwerp in 2004 and one of the very few exceptions lent by private collectors, as all of the other loans came from international museums.

In his day, Jacques d’Arthois was one of the most talented and successful landscape painters in the Southern Netherlands. He became a master of the Guild of Saint Luke in Brussels as early as 1634. In later years, he received a gold medal for his work from the Duke of Caracena, the governor of the Spanish Netherlands. For his landscape style, D’Arthois drew his inspirations from the landscapes of Peter Paul Rubens on the one hand and from the Brussels school of painting, first and foremost from the works of Lodewijk de Vadders, on the other. He mostly painted large-sized wooded hilly landscapes depicting the environs of Brussels, frequently the Forêt de Soignes; solitary gigantic trees in the foreground are a recurring feature of his compositions, while another popular motif were the hollow ways through the Brabant scenery. His wooded landscapes are characterized by a carefully composed structure. In the present case, the picture’s left half is covered by almost monochrome woodland blocking any view beyond. A sandy path with four strollers directs the viewer’s gaze to the expanse of the middle ground, which consists of clusters of trees, water surfaces, fields, and a farmhouse. In the background, a hazy hilly landscape appears on the horizon. In the immediate foreground is a ‘still life‘ composed of flowers and shrubs enclosed by splintered tree stumps, its colour accents corresponding to those of the figural staffage. The artist’s palette is dominated by the vigorous green of the foliage, with dabs of colour added in brown and reddish ochre. One is struck by the accuracy with which the trees, the foliage, and the plants are depicted; the botanic wealth of the Brabant scenery is rendered with a precise brush. For the figural staffage, D’Arthois often relied on artists of equal standing, such as David Teniers II (there are three known pictures signed by D’Arthois and Teniers), Pieter Bout, Gonzales Coques, Hendrick de Clerck, Mattheus van Helmont, Willem van Herp, and Mathijs Schoevaerdts.