Summary description
Oil painting on canvas, A Landscape with Figures by Nicolaes Berchem the elder (Haarlem 1620 – Amsterdam 1683), signed, circa 1650-75. A landscape with figures peopled with peasants with pack-asses on a wooded path in the left foreground with a ruined castle on a hill in the middle distance and a lake to the right.
Provenance
There is uncertainty about the early history of the picture before it entered the collection of Lord Derby, where it was seen by Smith in 1842. Hofstede de Groot tentatively relates it to his No.525 (in the Braamcamp sale, 31 July 1771, lot 18), giving the size as 113cm x 128.5cm. (i.e. 44" x 50"), whereas in the Braamcamp sale catalogue it is given as 128.5 x 128.5cm. De Groot also suggests the possibility that it might be the same as a picture in the Le Brun sale, 10 December 1778, but Smith’s description (No.63) would appear to preclude this; Earl of Derby sale, Christie’s, 26 July 1940, lot 3, bought Gooden and Fox, from whom acquired by Ernest Cook. (Numbered on back of relining 93 and 60 on frame.); presented by Ernest Cook to the National Trust for Montacute in 1946.
Credit line
Montacute House, The Ernest Cook Collection (The National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: Signed on rock lower centre right:
Makers and roles
Nicolaes Berchem the elder (Haarlem 1620 – Amsterdam 1683), artist
References
H de Groot, Verzeichnis der Werke der Hollandische Maler, 1828, X p.207, No.562.
John Smith, Catalogue Raisonné, 1843 (Supplement), p.617, No.72
Collection of Lord Derby
Gore 1969: F. St John Gore, 'Pictures in National Trust Houses', supplement to Burlington Magazine, Vol.cxi, No.793. April 1969, pp.239-58, p.248. "Montacute House, Somerset (Montacute, Nr.Yeovil)
Ownership. Pictures given with the house by Mr Ernest Cook, 1931.
Berchem, N. Landscape 41 1/2 x 51 de Groot IX, No. 562."
Montacute House, Somerset, 1976 [The National Trust; Dudley Dodd] 1976, "THE PARLOUR
South Wall, in the alcove.
A Landscape with Figures, by Nicholaes Berchem (1620-83). Given by Mr Ernest Cook."
Montacute House, Somerset, 1991 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, p.58.
"THE PARLOUR
PAINTINGS
Landscape with Figures
A characteristic, though damaged Italianate work by this Dutch landscapeist; formerly in the collection of the Earls of Derby. (Cook bequest.)
Nicholaes Berchem (1620-83), mid-seventeenth century."
Montacute House, Somerset, 1997 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, revised 1997 , p.67.
"THE CRIMSON DRESSING ROOM
PAINTINGS
Landscape with Figures
A characteristic, though damaged Italianate work by this Dutch landscapeist; formerly in the collection of the Earls of Derby. (Cook bequest.)
Nicholaes Berchem (1620-83), mid-seventeenth century."
Montacute House, Somerset, 2004-2006 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 2000, revised 2004, reprinted 2005, 2006, p.55.
"THE CRIMSON DRESSING ROOM
PAINTINGS
Landscape with Figures
A characteristic, though damaged Italianate work by this Dutch landscapeist; formerly in the collection of the Earls of Derby. (Cook bequest.)
Nicholaes Berchem (1620-83), mid-seventeenth century."
Related items