Lot 29: Arent Arentsz., called Cabel (Amsterdam c. 1586-1635)

A river landscape with two fishermen pulling in their nets, with bathers beyond signed with monogram 'AA' (centre left) oil on panel 121/4 x 223/4 in. (31.1 x 57.8 cm.) PROVENANCE with Charles A. Jackson, Manchester (according to a label on the reverse). NOTES Arent Arentsz. derived his sobriquet 'Cabel' from the name of his house on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam. His highly realistic summer and winter landscapes are closely related to those by his exact contemporary Hendrik Avercamp (1585-1634), who also spent his formative years in Amsterdam. Since only one dated work - from 1629 - is known by Cabel, their artistic relationship remains difficult to establish. Several copies or versions of this composition are known, such as the picture in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (see J.C. Ebbinge Wubbe, Old Paintings/Illustrations, Rotterdam, 1972, p. 44; and L. Kuiper, in the forthcoming catalogue of the Dutch Landscapes in the Museum Boimans Van Beuningen, as 'not by Cabel'). A copy after this, or the Rotterdam picture, was recorded on the art market, Zurich, in 1917; another, possibly autogaph, picture showing the left side of the present composition is in the ™ffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel (inv. no, 1364); and the two fishermen in the foreground recur, in reverse, in the View on the Amstel near the Pauwentium in the Rijksmuseum. The gallows and churches discernible in the distance might indicate that, like the Rijksmuseum picture, this is also a topographically accurate view. We are grateful to Mrs. Marijke de Kinkelder of the RKD for confirming the attribution on the basis of a transparency.