HERMAN SAFTLEVEN THE YOUNGER
124 Mountain Landscape
with Figures
Black chalk and brown wash; H: 23.6 cm (9^5 /6 in.); W:
27.9 cm (n in.)
84.00.96 1
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom center, signed
and dated HSL 1652 in black chalk.
PROVENANCE: J.Goll van Franckenstein, Amsterdam;
P. Langerhuizen, Crailoo near Bussum (sale, Frederik
Muller, Amsterdam, April 29, 1919, lot 682); Anton
Mensing, Amsterdam (sale, Frederik Muller, Amster-
dam, April 27, 1937, lot 650); private collection, Sweden;
art market, California.
EXHIBITIONS: Dutch and Flemish Drawings in the Natio-
nalmuseum and Other Swedish Collections, Nationalmu-
seum, Stockholm, 1953, no. 176 (catalogue by N. Lind-
hagen). Oude tekeningen uit de Nederlanden: Verzameling
Prof. E. Perman, Stockholm, Singer Museum, Laren, 1962,
no. 96 (catalogue by E. Perman et al.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Bernt, Die niederlandischen Zeichner
des rj. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1958), vol. 2, no. 521; idem,
Die niederlandischen Maler und Zeichner des 17. Jahrhunderts
(Munich, 1980), vol. 5, no. 520; W. Schulz, Herman Saft-
leven 1609-1685 (Berlin and New York, 1982), p. 343,
no. 824.
THIS IS ONE OF A LARGE NUMBER OF LANDSCAPE
drawings by Herman Saftleven grouped by Schulz in the
period 1648-1652 (1982, nos. 735-824). Closest to this
composition in type are two drawings in the Musees
Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels (inv. De
Grez 3178, 3184; Schulz 1982, nos. 743-744), executed
in a similar technique and also showing large and prom-
inently situated rocks with distant views dominating
small figures. In a number of the drawings from this se-
ries, Saftleven has used interchangeable motifs. The
drawings do not appear to be preparatory for paintings
or prints and are not topographical. They reflect, in a
general sense, the precedent of Roelandt Savery s moun-
tain landscapes.276 DUTCH SCHOOL • SAFTLEVEN THE YOUNGER