(Antwerp 1601–1678)
(Antwerp 1564–1635)
An extensive mountainous river landscape with travellers near a village,
oil on panel, 46.5 x 66 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Edmond Hertzberger (1904–1993), Aerdenhout, The Netherlands

Exhibited:
Dordrecht, Dordrechtse Museum, Nederlandse Landschapen uit de Zeventiende Eeuw, July–September 1963

We are grateful to Luuk Pijl for confirming the attribution of the present painting to Joos de Momper and Jan Brueghel II. A written certificate (October 2018) is available. Pijl wrote: ‘The work certainly dates from the mature period of the master; a date during the early 1630s is feasable for the present work. Joos de Momper used to delegate the figures in his paintings to Antwerp colleagues. All the smaller, colourfully executed humans and cattle are painted by Jan Brueghel II. Brueghel often collaborated with De Momper. However, the two men on horseback and the female beggar are rendered in a slightly different style. They show stylistic affinities with figures painted by Pieter Gysels (1621–1690). The composition was invented by De Momper and together with two colleagues he created a beautiful rural image of 17th-century Flanders’.

Klaus Ertz suggested an alternative attribution of the present painting to Joos de Momper (1564–1635) and Adriaen van Stalbemt (1580–1662). A written certificate (March 2019) is available.