Lot 124: f - JAN JOOST VAN COSSIAU BREDA CIRCA 1660 - CIRCA 1733 MAINZ

FOUR PEASANTS RESTING ON A WOODLAND PATH, WITH THEIR HERD OF GOATS TO THE RIGHT

measurements note
406 by 540mm

inscribed in brown ink on lower centre of old mount: Jon. Jost Cossiau.; and numbered in brown ink: N.189.
black chalk counterproof, reworked in black chalk and heightened with white chalk, within brown ink framing lines

PROVENANCE

John Boyd Thacher, according to inscription, lower right

NOTE

Van Cossiau was born in Breda, but worked mainly in Paris and then at the court in Mainz and Bamberg. He was also director of the gallery at Pommersfelden. Cossiau's drawings are very rare: another example, in red chalk, was sold, New York, Sotheby's, 27 January 1999. Although the image in the present drawing is extremely strong, the slight blurring towards the right side of the composition indicates that this must be a reworked counterproof. Regarding the Thacher provenance, see note to lot 46.