CIRCLE OF GILLIS VAN CONINXLOO
1544-1607
82 Forest Scene
Brush and gray and white gouache on black prepared pa-
per; H: 54.4 cm (21'Ain.); W: 42.1 cm (i6^9 /i6Ín.)
87.00.12
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Verso) on mount, in-
scribed Nicholas de Bruyn, Paignon-Dijonval coll., no. 1306
in brown ink.
PROVENANCE: Paignon-Dijonval, Paris; Col. P. L.
Bradfer-Lawrence, Norwich; by descent; art market,
London.
EXHIBITIONS: Drawings by Old Masters, Royal Academy
of Arts, London, 1953, no. 205 (catalogue by K. T. Parker
andj. By am Shaw).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Bénard, Cabinet de M. Paignon Di-
jonval (Paris, 1810), no. 1306; T. Gerszi, Netherlandish
Drawings in the Budapest Museum (Amsterdam, 1971), p.
36, under no. 54; E. M. Zafran, Master Drawings from Ti-
tian to Picasso: The Curtis O. Baer Collection, exh. cat.
(High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1986), p. 97, under no.
53 -
THE ATTRIBUTION OF THIS LARGE FOREST SCENE,
drawn in grisaille with a brush, to Gillis van Coninxloo
is due to Parker and Byam Shaw (1953, no. 205). While
the work is not comparable to the delicate pen sketch in
the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (inv. xdz 12958)—
among the few drawings that have been plausibly asso-
ciated with his hand—it has a strong affinity with paint-
ings by him (for example Landscape with Hunters [Speyer,
Historisches Museum der Pfalz inv. H. M. 1957/122]). In-
triguing as it may be, the attribution of the drawing to
Nicolaes de Bruyn in the catalogue of the Paignon-
Dijonval collection (Bénard 1810) remains difficult to
substantiate. De Bruyn, best known for his engravings
after Coninxloo and David Vinckboons, also made orig-inal prints that often emphasize monumental trees in the
tradition of the former. None of these, however, corre-
spond to the Museum's sheet, and de Bruyn's drawn
oeuvre remains little known. This sheet has also been
compared to drawings by Frederick van Valckenborch,
Kerstiaen de Keuninck (Gerszi 1971, p. 36), and Jacques
Fouquier (Zafran 1986, p. 97), but thus far the attribution
to the circle of Coninxloo remains most supportable.^1
Although late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-
century Netherlandish brush drawings of trees done in
colored wash are not uncommon, the use of grisaille, not
to mention the large scale of the present drawing, render
it exceptional. Overall it is most comparable to a brush
drawing of a tree and travelers in the Kupferstichkabi-
nett, Berlin (inv. Kdz 16558), also made on black-
prepared paper but mixing reddish brown and gray
gouache. Although previously associated with Elshei-
mer, the Berlin sheet—like the Getty sheet—is more
strongly tied to the style of Coninxloo,^2 and both would
appear to date from the first several decades of the sev-
enteenth century. The moody, haunting quality of the
nocturnal scene in the Museum's drawing might derive
from the graphic art of the School of Prague, as can be
seen in the engraving Moonlit Landscape with Fishermen by
a River by Aegidius Sadeler after Pieter Stevens.^31. The author here concurs with the opinion of C. van Hasselt,
generously shared in a letter of October 6, 1986.- H. Môhle, Die Zeichnungen Adam Elsheimers (Berlin, 1966),
no. A 17, pi. 53. The association of this drawing with the style
of Coninxloo was kindly confirmed by H. Mielke (letter to
L. Hendrix, September 20 , 1989). - A. Zwollo, in Prag um 1600: Kunst und Kulturam Hofe Rudolfs
//., exh. cat. (Kulturstiftung Ruhr, Villa Hügel, Essen, 1988),
no. 3233.
194 FLEMISH SCHOOL • CIRCLE OF CONINXLOO