Lot 27: MATHIEU DUBUS

MATHIEU DUBUS IEPER (?) CA. 1590 - 1665/66 THE HAGUE AN EXTENSIVE ROCKY LANDSCAPE WITH FIGURES ON A PATH IN THE FOREGROUND signed lower left: matieu dubus oil on panel 50.4 by 78.8 cm.

This previously unrecorded landscape is an interesting addition to Dubus' small oeuvre of paintings. Although not very well-known today, Dubus held several important positions as a decorator and gilder throughout his career: in 1626 he was recorded as a painter for the residences of Prince of Orange Frederik Hendrik, and as a kamerschilder to the court in 1627.υ1 In 1635 he joined the Guild of St. Luke in The Hague, where he would work for the rest of his life. Amongst his most prestigious commissions where the decoration of the ceiling of the Great Hall at Noordeinde Palace and the ornamental gilding for the galleries of Huis ter Nieuburg in Rijswijk and Buren Castle.

Although he mainly worked as a decorator, Dubus also painted a number of fantasised Italianate mountain landscapes of high quality, such as this lot. His compositions are characterised by jagged rock formations with steep ridges and deep valleys, with sharp contrasts of light and dark. But while his landscapes with their distinct southern feel suggest otherwise, Dubus never travelled to southern Europe himself. Instead, he based his compositions on drawings and paintings of his contemporaries, in particular on those of the celebrated Hercules Seghers (1589-1637/8). A comparable painting to the present work is in Museum Bredius, The Hague (inv. no. 148-1946).υ2

1. E. Buijsen (ed.), Haagse Schilders in de Gouden Eeuw, Zwolle 1999, p. 301.
2. See A. Blankert, Museum Bredius. Catalogus van de schilderijen en tekeningen, Zwolle 1990, p. 75, cat. no. 50, reproduced in colour.