Jan Josefsz. van Goyen (Leiden 1596-1656 The Hague)

Recorded by Beck (loc. cit.) under 'lost paintings', this beautifully preserved canvas has not been seen in public since its sale at Christie's in 1887. It joins around twenty-five known paintings by Van Goyen from 1652, the majority of which - like this example - are characterised by great fluency of handling and the use of a monochrome palette. Van Goyen briefly returned to monochromatic painting from circa 1650/51 choosing to render his landscapes in finely graded tones of brownish colour. In this example, the rendition of detail, light and spatial depth using such a restricted tonal range is remarkable.