Gysbrecht Leytens

With Richard Green, London (according to an inscription on the reverse);

Private collection, England;

With Alex Finck, Brussels, by 1967;

From whom acquired by the present owners, in May 1968.

Leytens was first mooted as the possible name for the artist previously known as the Master of the Winter Landscapes, before his identity was confirmed by a fully signed work that was published by Ursula Härting in 1988.¹ The painter was subsequently proved to have executed a considerable number of winter landscapes, distinguished by trees with knotty trunks and masses of vein-like branches, misty atmospheres, and a partiality for the subject of figures chopping and carrying wood, as here.

¹ U. Härting, 'Der Meister der Winterlandschaften, der Maler Gysbrecht Leytens', in Die Kunst, 1988, vol. I, p. 27.