Oil on canvas, 'View of Haarlem', attributed to Jan de Vos (II), ca. 1639-1690

A view of Haarlem in the west of the Netherlands in Winter. Figures walk, skate and hunt on the frozen river Spaarne and beyond it the walled city with the great Church of St Bavo in the centre and numerous other recognizable churches, monasteries and buildings.

Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce

Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce, 1869

The Reverend Alexander Dyce :
South Kensington Museum Art Handbooks. The Dyce and Forster Collections. With Engravings and Facsimiles. Published for the Committee of Council on Education by Chapman and Hall, Limited, 193, Piccadilly, London. 1880. Chapter I. Biographical Sketch of Mr. Dyce. pp.1-12, including 'Portrait of Mr. Dyce' illustrated opposite p.1.

Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education, South Kensington Museum.A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings... Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce. London, 1874. A 'Note' on page v comments, 'This catalogue refers to the Art portion of the Collection bequeathed to the South Kensington Museum by the Reverend Alexander Dyce, the well-known Shakespearian scholar, who died May 15, 1869'. The Catalogue. Paintings, Miniatures, &c. by Samuel Redgrave notes of the 'Oil Paintings', 'The strength of Mr. Dyce's valuable bequest to Department of Science and Art does not lie in [this] portion ... which is in its nature of a very miscellaneous character. The collection was made apparently as objects offered themselves, and without any special design.' Dyce's main interest was in literary subjects, and this is reflected in many of the paintings he bequeathed to the V&A.

Historical significance: Marijke de Kinkelder has recently suggested (verbal communication) an attribution to Jan de Vos (II) (ca. 1615-1693), based on photographs only, in February 2010. De Vos worked primarily in Leiden and painted views of his native city as well as Potsdam, Delft, Cologne and perhaps Haarlem. In his works, the sky often comprises 3/4 of the composition which is characteristically cool blue-green in colouring and the whole is painted with fairly soft, blurred edges. This overall softness contrasts with the comparably sharper lines and contrasts of Allart van Everdingen's cityscapes. Further, de Vos' figures appear to have been sketched in swiftly and are generally paired off or clustered in small groups as in Dyce.46. De Vos shows a particular predilection for depicting hunters & their dogs and often included a fox in his compositions as a kind of signature a reference to his surname as 'vos' is fox in Dutch.

Landscape paintings were extremely popular during the 17th century and increasingly encompassed a variety of forms and genres. Dutch painters had a new attention for nature and their familiar surroundings as well as more exotic locales that Dutch travellers encountered, among which the most praised was Italy. In the early 1600s, innovative contributions to landscape paintings were made, especially by the marine painters who concentrate on the effects of light due to atmospheric condition and the sense of depth and had a great resonance on landscape painting. Panoramic views became popular in the 17th-century Netherlands and views of the Dutch countryside developed quickly, especially under the influence of Jan van Goyen (1596-1656) who developed a broken brushwork technique and used a restrained monochromatic palette of earthy colours. The end of the 17th century is remarkable for a shift in taste that came to favour more academic and classical landscapes under the influence of Italianate landscape paintings. Landscapes were then often employed as settings for mythological or historical subjects.

While Kauffmann attributed the work to Allart van Everdingen according to the signature at lower right, both the style of the picture and the form of the signature differ from those customarily used by this artist (he normally signs with the monogram AVE).

According to object file the work was described as:

'original but not by Everdingen' by George Isarlov (February 1936)

' not by Everdingen, though doubtless 17th century, nearer to Jacob Esselens' by Neil MacLaren (26/7/1960)

'perhaps a painting by the real van Everdingen' by Dr. H. Gerson [based on comparison with View of Alkmaar by van Everdingen in Lugt's collection] (28/10/1960)

More recently, Marijke de Kinkelder has suggested (verbal communication) an attribution to Jan de Vos (II) (ca. 1615-1693), based on photographs only, in February 2010.

A view of Haarlem in the west of the Netherlands in Winter. Figures walk, skate and hunt on the frozen river Spaarne and beyond it the walled city with the great Church of St Bavo in the centre and numerous other recognizable churches, monasteries and buildings. While this work has often been attributed to Allart van Everdingen, an attribution to Jan de Vos (II) (ca. 1615-1693) is more convincing. De Vos worked primarily in Leiden and painted views of his native city as well as Potsdam, Delft, Cologne and perhaps Haarlem. In his works, the sky often comprises 3/4 of the composition which is characteristically cool blue-green in colouring and the whole is painted with fairly soft, blurred edges. This overall softness contrasts with the comparably sharper lines and contrasts of Allart van Everdingen's cityscapes. Further, de Vos' figures appear to have been sketched in swiftly and are generally paired off or clustered in small groups as in Dyce.46. De Vos shows a particular predeliction for depicting hunters and their dogs.

DYCE.46