ISAAC MAJOR
I588-AFTER 1642
132 River Landscape with Houses
on a Rocky Island
Watercolor, squared in black chalk; H: 23.5 cm (9*74 in.);
W: 35.8cm(i4y8in.)
88.GA.2 5
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom center, collec-
tion mark of John Thane (L. 1544); at bottom right cor-
ner, collection mark of Augustus Frederick, first duke of
Sussex, or Sir John Barham (L. 2823).
PROVENANCE: John Thane, London; Augustus Freder-
ick, first duke of Sussex, or Sir John Barham; sale, Soth-
eby's, Amsterdam, November 18, 1985, lot 16; art mar-
ket, London.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.
THIS AND ANOTHER EXAMPLE WITH THE SAME PROV-
enance sold at Sotheby's, Amsterdam (November 18 ,
1985, lots 15, 16), are part of a distinctive group of land-
scape drawings drawn with the brush in blue wash which
was first attributed to Major byj. Spicer.^1 Both drawings
were executed primarily in blue wash but have touches
of green, yellow, and reddish watercolor as well. Al-
though the drawings in this group have been associated
with such diverse hands as Jacques and Roelandt Savery,
Jóos de Momper, and Jan Siberechts,^2 their attribution to
Major seems most plausible. It has been further substan-
tiated by the discovery that one of them is a study in re-
verse for an etching Major signed as having made—and
presumably invented.^3 The rugged terrain featured in
these drawings shows his dependence on the work of
Roelandt Savery and Pieter Stevens, after which he made
a number of engravings. The present example comes
closer to Stevens both compositionally and technically,
as can be seen if it is compared to Chapel above a River
(Rijksprentenkabinet inv. 22:12); its painterly handling
and colorism are found in later drawings by Stevens such
as River in a Forest, dated 1614 (Amsterdam, P. and N. de
Boer collection). Its juxtaposition of a low expanse of
horizon with vertical foreground elements occurs in
other landscapes by Major, such as Rocky Landscape with
Waterfall and Hunters (Yale University Art Gallery inv.
1961.62.62), that have been dated to the 16205. The
squaring in this and another of the so-called "indigo"
drawings, Landscape with Fisherman and Duck Hunter
(Yale University Art Gallery inv. 1961.62.63), indicates
that they might have been made as models for a projected
series of prints which was never completed.1. J. Spicer-Durham, "The Drawings of Roelandt Savery,"
unpub. Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1979, vols, i, pp. 78, 289,
n. 42b; 2, pp. 688, 723.
2. F. de Nave, Meester Werken nit het Stedelijk Prentenkabinet van
Antwerpen: Tekeningen uit de XVlde en XVIlde Eeuw, exh. cat.
(Stedelijk Prentenkabinet van Antwerpen, Antwerp, 1988),
no. 45.
3. E. Burgerolles with the assistance of D. Guillet, Renaissance
et maniérisme dans les écoles du nord: Dessins des collections de l'Ecole
des Beaux-Arts, exh. cat. (Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, 1985), p. 244, no. 125;
F. W. H. Hollstein, German Engravings, Etchings, and Woodcuts,
c. 1400-1700 (Amsterdam, 1954-), vol. 24, no. 14.298 CENTRAL EUROPEAN SCHOOL • MAJOR