painting (oil): ["River Scene"]

"Buildings on right and left bank, church in distance, figures in foreground." [Wallis], Between 1984 and 1985, a research assistant, Dr. Brendan Cassidy, was employed by Nottingham Castle Museum to research and write a catalogue of the foreign oil paintings in their collection. The catalogue never materialised, but drafts and notes relating to Cassidy's research can be found in the Artist Files and in the Archive at the Museum. All references to Cassidy relate to these documents. The panel entered the collection with an attribution to "Jan Breughel (German School)" and was then more loosely ascribed to the School of Breughel (Letter dated 16 August 1950 from W. Holder & Son). After restoration and the uncovering of the initials "G DH" it was suggested that it was a work by Gillis Claesz d' Hondecoeter, firstly by G. Delbanco (Roland, Browse & Delbanco, London, letter dated 13 May 1953). This attribution was supported by Stephen Reiss (letter dated 22 March 1954) and then by Peter Murray (Courtauld Institute of Art, letter dated 9 August 1955). In letter dated 9 August 1955 from Peter Murray (Courtauld Institute), he mentions that Hondecoeter sometimes signed his works G D H with the D and the H in monogram, where the H is superimposed over the D. This seems to be the case in NCM 1900-1, as the downward strokes of the H can clearly be seen on either side of the D. The inscription of the date at lower right is unclear and has been recorded as either "1624" or "1614"). A date of 1614 was suggested for NCM 1900-1 by W. J. Holder & Sons in 1950-2. The reasons for supporting a date of 1614 have been convincingly put forward by Cassidy on stylistic grounds. He has argued that Hondecoeter's works of the 1620s seem to be mostly populated with animals, whilst the style of the Nottingham picture can be seen in his oeuvre as early as 1603. A River Scene by Gillis d' Hondecoeter in the Musee Royal des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp dated 1613 is also stylistically close to NCM 1900-1, especially the wind-bent trees with their exposed roots and the tree stump silhouetted against the river, are characteristic of works by Gillis d' Hondecoeter around this date. On the reverse: There is a half-cradle on the reverse of the panel with one vertical and two horizontal bands. There are also two small struts that appear to be embedded into the panel. 1. In white chalk: "NO129" or "NO (29' (Cassidy recorded this as: "No. 129") 2. In white chalk: "54" 3. Label with docked corners and blue border: "21153" 4. Remains of four other labels: no script visible. 5. Inscribed on the panel in black ink: "Landscape by Brughel" (sic) 6. NCM accession number NCM 1900-1 was restored and cleaned between 1950 and 1952 by W. Holder & Sons, when a considerable amount of overpaint in the foreground was removed revealing the tree stump and the inscription at lower right. A photograph of the painting during restoration reveals that the tree root and reeds in the foreground had been entirely overpainted and the figures of a man and child added on the riverbank. A crack in the panel, running the width of the painting about one-third of the way down from the top, was also repainted. The cradle and struts were probably added to NCM 1900-1 during the 1950-2 restoration in order to repair the crack in the panel and prevent further damage. (Virag 15/12/2004), Collection of Mr J. H. Jacoby.