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Spring Landscape with Donkeys and Goats ("The Rabbit Warren")

Spring Landscape with Donkeys and Goats ("The Rabbit Warren")

(Dutch, 1625–1654)
1647
Medium/TechniqueOil on panel
Dimensions39.4 x 36.2 cm (15 1/2 x 14 1/4 in.)
Framed: 62.5 x 59.1 x 7.3 cm (24 5/8 x 23 1/4 x 2 7/8 in.)
Credit LinePromised gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession numberL-R 28.2019
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPaintings
Collections
Description

The short-lived but gifted Paulus Potter dedicated his career to the depiction of animals in rustic settings. According to contemporary sources, he often sketched his subjects while walking near the polders outside The Hague. He could have observed the animals portrayed here —the rabbit near the warren in the center, the donkeys at left, and the various goats—on one of these outings. There is scant human presence in this painting. Potter excelled at the realistic depiction of nature, as demonstrated by the diverse textures of the animals’ hides, the carefully painted trees of various types, and the warm glow of the late afternoon sky.

ProvenanceProbably Cornelis van Dyck; probably May 10, 1713, Cornelis van Dyck (or Dijck) estate sale, The Hague, lot 31. 1826, sold by M. Eynard, Paris to John Smith (b. 1781 – d. 1855), London [see note 1]; January 28, 1827, sold by Smith to Michael M. Zachary (b. 1773 - d. 1837), London [see note 2]; May 31, 1828, Zachary sale, Phillips, London, lot 54, bought in [see note 3]; March 30, 1838, Zachary estate sale, Christie's, London, lot 43, sold to Charles A. Bredel (d. 1851), London [see note 4]; 1838, sold by Bredel for £735 to Brown [see note 5]; 1841, sold by Brown to Robert Staynor Holford (b. 1808 - d. 1892), Dorchester House, London and Westonbirt, Gloucestershire [see note 6]; by descent to his son, Sir George Lindsay Holford (b. 1860 - d. 1926), Dorchester House, London and Westonbirt, Gloucestershire; May 17, 1928, G. L. Holford estate sale, Christie's, London, lot 30, sold for £8400 to Frits Lugt on behalf of Dr. Frits Hendrik Fentener van Vlissingen (b. 1882 – d. 1962), Vught and Utrecht; until 1988, by descent through the van Vlissingen family [see note 7]. December 7, 1988, anonymous sale ("Property of a Lady"), Sotheby's, London, lot 93, bought in. Private collection, Wassenaar. 1996, sold by Johnny van Haeften Ltd., London, to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA [see note 8].

NOTES:
[1] According to John Smith, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, vol. 5 (London, 1834), no. 65. Eynard may refer to collector Jacques (b. 1772 - d. 1844) or Jean-Gabriel (b. 1775 - d. 1863) Eynard.

[2] The Getty Provenance Index database (sale cat. Br-3135) notes that John Smith’s ledgers indicate he sold the painting to ‘Michel Zachary’ on January 28, 1827.

[3] The Getty Provenance Index database (as above, n. 2) notes that the painting was purchased by Simon McGillivray. Smith 1834 (as above, n. 1) notes that the painting was bought in.

[4] Both Zachary sale catalogues note this painting was previously in the Braamcamp collection, though it does not appear in a catalogue of the Braamcamp collection published in Gerard Hoet, Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schilderyen, vol. II (The Hague, 1752), nor in the Braamcamp sale of 1771.

[5] According to John Smith, Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, vol. 9 (London, 1842), no. 25, this painting was bought by Mr. Bredel and then sold by the time of the volume’s publication. Frederik Duparc, Golden: Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Collection of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo (New Haven, 2011), cat. 47, notes the date and price of the sale.

[6] According to the 1928 Christie’s catalogue.

[7] According to Amy Walsh, Edwin Buijsen and Ben Broos, Paulus Potter: Paintings, Drawings and Etchings (Zwolle, 1994), cat. 10.

[8] Provenance after 1988 is taken from Duparc 2011 (as above, n. 5).