Adriaen van Nieulandt I (Antwerp 1585/7-1658 Amsterdam)

J. Briels (see Vlaamse Schilders in de Noordelijke Nederlanden, 1987, pp. 67-8), states that Van Nieulandt belonged to the group of Flemish immigrants who settled in Amsterdam in the first years of the 17th century. Painting was a marginal career, as he was chiefly active as a dealer. In the 1640's he adopted a pastoral taste, and was influenced by the Utrecht painter Cornelis van Poelenburch. In the 1650's his pastoral scenes were placed in grottos as in the present lot; see also his picture of Diana and Callisto in the Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum, Brunswick (see R. Klessmann, Die Holländischen Gemälde, 1983, p. 154, no. 215, illustrated).