ADRIAEN VAN STALBEMT (Antwerp 1580 – Antwerp 1662)
A Rocky River Landscape with Hunters, Goats, and an Angler and A Wooded Landscape with Hunters by a Stream with a Rotunda in the Distance: A Pair of Paintings
Both oil on panel
Each 17.9 x 25.8 inches (44.5 x 65.5 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, London, December 10, 1975, lot 96, one illustrated, (as by Alexander Keirincx)
Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, London, March 24, 1976, lot 76, one illustrated, (as by Alexander Keirincx)
Galerie Sanct Lucas, Vienna, by 1976 (as by Alexander Keirincx)
European Private Collection
LITERATURE
Vienna, Galerie Sanct Lucas, Gemälde Alter Meister, Winter 1976 / 1977, nos. 7 & 8, illustrated, (as by Alexander Keirincx)
Klaus Ertz, Adriaen van Stalbemt 1580 – 1662: Kritischer Katalog der Gemälde, Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik, Luca Verlag, Lingen, 2018, pp. 39, 264 no. 22, illustrated, pp. 280 -281, no. 63, illustrated (as by Adriaen van Stalbemt)
After the fall of Antwerp to the Spanish in 1585, Adriaen van Stalbemt’s family moved to Middelburg as they were Protestant. In all likelihood this is where he received his training. By 1609 he had returned to Antwerp, probably after the signing of the Twelve Years’ Truce which ended hostilities between Spain and the Northern Netherlands. The same year he became a Master of the Guild of St. Luke, Antwerp, and its Dean from 1618 – 1619. He trained three apprentices: Hans Mesmaeckers, Joannes Mesmakers, and Johannes de Vargas. His wife was Barbara Verdelft the daughter of Jan Verdelft I, an art dealer. At the request of King Charles I, Stalbemt worked in England from 1633 – 1634. One work done during this period in collaboration with Jan Belcamp of A View of Greenwich with Charles I and Henrietta Maria with a Group of Courtiers is in the Royal Collection. Now best known for his landscapes, he also painted religious, mythological, and allegorical works as well as executed prints. He further contributed staffage to a number of contemporaries including Jan Brueghel the Elder, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Frans Francken II, Pieter Neefs the Elder, and Hendrick van Steenwyck the Younger. His work reflects a variety of influences from Herri Met de Bles, Adam Elsheimer, Gillis van Coninxloo, Paul Bril, Hendrick van Balen and Jan Brueghel the Elder.[1]
Works by Stalbemt formed part of the permanent collections of museums in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Berlin, Budapest, Chambéry, Dijon, Dresden, Florence, Frankfurt, Kassel, Madrid, Mainz, Schwerin, and Vaduz among others.[2]
Dr. Klaus Ertz in his catalog raisonné on Adriaen van Stalbemt dates this pair as having been executed between 1620 -1630. He notes that the past attributions to Alexander Keirincx are wrong, and that the pair represent a high point in Stalbemt’s mature landscape development. They are influenced by Paul Bril’s later work, who was the leading landscape painter in Rome until his death in 1623.[3] They are particularly notable for their lyrical views of Idealized Italianate landscapes; but just as remarkable is the fact that the pair have remained together since the 1620’s.
[1] Biographical information taken from Jan de Maere et al., Illustrated Dictionary of 17th Century Flemish Painters, volume 2, Brussels, 1994, p. 1112; Jeremy Howarth, The Steenwyck Family as Masters of Perspective, Pictura Nova XII, Brepols, Turnhout, Belgium, 2009, p. 27; Hans Devisscher, “Adriaen van Stalbemt”, Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online, Oxford University Press, 2016; and “Adriaen van Stalbemt” on rkd.nl (RKD Explore) website.
[2] Jan de Maere, op.cit., volume 2, p. 1112.
[3] Klaus Ertz, op.cit., pp. 39, 264, 281 – 282.