Lot 121: Denys van Alsloot (1570-1628)

A thickly wooded landscape with a watermill by a stream, a bridge and buildings in the distance with inscription 'Vinceboons.' black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, brown ink framing line at the upper edge 8 1/8 x 121/2 in. (206 x 319 mm.) PROVENANCE Dr. W. Beck (L. 2603b). NOTES Closely comparable to three signed and dated drawings by Alsloot in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (G. Goldner and L. Hendrix, European Drawings 2, Malibu, 1992, no. 81), in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris (E. Brugerolles, Renaissance et mani‚risme dans les ‚coles du nord, exhib. cat., Paris, Ecole des Beaux-Arts and elsewhere, 1985, no. 121) and with Adolphe Stein, London, 1981, no. 1. The landscape in the Paris drawing has been identified as the chateau at Tervueren, and it has been suggested that the group can be connected with Alsloot's activity as court painter to the Archduke Albert and the Infanta Isabella of Spain, for whom he produced landscapes and tapestry designs derived from scenes in the forest of Soignes near Brussels (G. Goldner, op. cit., p. 325).