Description

With its low horizon line, monochrome palette, and efficient paint handling, this panel is characteristic of early river landscapes by Jan van Goyen. In a society that provided a broad market for art, Van Goyen executed both small- and large-scale paintings of waterways, with varying levels of detail, to appeal to buyers at the lower and higher ends of the market. Such views of Dutch canals, moody skies, and seafaring activities appealed to collectors in the young republic, which prided itself on its maritime prowess.

Provenance

Simon Stinstra (died 1782), Haarlem; his sale Van der Schley, etc., Amsterdam, March 26, 1783, lot 50 for 32 guilders to Bouwer [price and buyer according to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Frick Art Reference Library, New York]. Etienne Arago [according to the catalogue of the Rothan sale, cited below]; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 8, 1872, lot 32 as Marine for 3,250 francs to Gustave Rothan [price according to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague; buyer according to Beck 1973]; Gustave Rothan (died 1890), Paris, by 1873 [according to Paul Mantz 1873]; his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, May 29–31, 1890, lot 45 as Le Calme plat for 10,000 francs to Durand-Ruel, Paris [price according to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague; buyer according to a letter from Caroline Durand-Ruel Godfroy to Charles Stuckey dated December 13, 1994, copy in curatorial file]; Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1890 [according to the letter cited above, the painting was Durand-Ruel, Paris stock no. 423]; sold to Martin A. Ryerson (died 1932), Chicago for 10,500 francs, 1890 [according to the letter cited above]; on loan to the Art Institute by 1925; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1933.