Lot 26: CLAUDE DE JONGH

CLAUDE DE JONGH ? CIRCA 1600 - 1663 UTRECHT RUINS ON A HILL oil on panel 19 3/8 by 17 3/8 in.; 49.2 by 44.1 cm.

Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art Bulletin, Cleveland 1947, pp. 22, 31 (as Roelof van Vries);
A. Chong, European & American Painting in The Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue, Cleveland 1993, p. 118, reproduced.

Ralph R. King (1855-1926), Cleveland;
Thence by inheritance to his wife,
By whom gifted to The Cleveland Museum of Art in 1946 [acc. no. 1946.281, In Memory of Ralph R. King].

Attributed to Roelof van Vries (1631-1681) when it was gifted to the Cleveland Museum in 1946, this work has since been reattributed to Claude de Jongh by Wolfgang Stechow. Recorded as a member of the Guild of Saint Luke in Utrecht in 1627, de Jongh is perhaps most well known for his images of London, where he seems to have travelled as early as 1615, as a drawing of Saint Augustine's Monastery, Cantebury in the collection of the Centraal Museum, Utrecht is dated to that year.

This picturesque view of decaying ruins set high on a hill seems intended to convey a sense of mystery and timelessness. Painted with broad, textured strokes of paint, especially in the overlapping, hatchlines that create the bricks and roof shingles of the structure, the artist has rendered contrasting areas of bright light and deep shadow, which contribute to the almost eery foreboding of the scene. This mood is heightened by the mysterious figures -- one on foot and one on horseback -- who are climbing the path to the old building.