Jan Griffier the Elder

Helene Tepelmann, née Vieweg (d. 1939), Wendhausen Castle, Lower Saxony;

Her posthumous sale, Cologne, Lempertz, 1 February 1940, lot 39;

Where acquired by a private collector, Germany;

By descent to his son;

By whom anonymously sold, London, Sotheby's, 6 December 1995, lot 3, for £95,000.

In its impressive dimensions, this luminous painting is closely comparable to the sixteen works by Griffier, most of which are likewise executed on copper, that are thought to have been acquired by Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736) shortly after the artist's death in 1718. Many of these hang today in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin.

This picture probably dates from around 1700, several years after Griffier's arrival in Holland in 1695, but before his return to London, where he had moved circa 1667 following his initial training in Amsterdam. It is evidently strongly influenced by Herman Saftleven's Rheinish capricci, as are most pictures that date from the artist's Dutch period.

Note on Provenance

This painting was previously owned by Helene Tepelmann, née Vieweg: a prominent publisher who took over the management of the family publishing house, Vieweg Verlag, in Braunschweig, upon the death of her father, Heinrich Vieweg (1826–1890). Beyond her publishing endeavours, Helene was keenly involved with the family's art collection. The Viewegs had acquired Wendhausen Castle, Lower Saxony, in 1873, where they established a paper mill and amassed an extensive collection of paintings and antiques. Helene helped to curate the display of the artworks at the castle, rendering it an important cultural hub prior to the outbreak of World War II.