Maerten Fransz. van der Hulst Lot n° 2042

Maerten Fransz. van der Hulst River Landscape with Fishermen Oil on panel. 39 x 52.5 cm. Inscribed lower centre: VG. Provenance Possibly collection of Clavé Bouhaben, Cologne. - Lepke Berlin October 1901, no. 21 (labelled on the reverse?). - Collection of Baron von Wrangel, Silesia, as of 1951 Berlin. - Collection of E. von Eckartstein, Munich 1969.- Douwes art dealers, Amsterdam 1970-71 (advertised in "Antiek" June 1971, p. 54. - Cramer art dealers, The Hague 1972 (exhibited in the 24th "Kunst- en Antiekbeurse“, Delft). - Subsequently in a South German private collection. Literature H.U. Beck, “Über Maerten Fransz. Van der Hulft“, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 1972, p. 247ff, no. 2. - W. Bernt, Die niederländischen Maler des 17. Jahrhunderts, Munich 1980 (4th edition), illus. 603. - H.U. Beck. Künstler um Jan van Goyen, Augsburg 1991, illus. XXV, cat. no. 469. Maerten Fransz. van der Hulst was a contemporary of Jan van Goyen in Leiden and was strongly influenced by him. His works are often confused with those of his role model. It was for this reason that the great van Goyen expert, Dr Ulrich Beck, was the principal scholar of this artist's works. In 1972, Ulrich Beck compiled a first overview of his paintings. The present work was already listed in this first publication under number 2. In 1991, Beck published a revised version of this overview in his volume “Künstler um van Goyen” (Artists around van Goyen) in which this oval painting was reproduced in colour. The clearest difference between van der Hulst and his role model can be seen in their depiction of water and trees. His works seldom radiate the calm atmosphere of van Goyens'; his waters often display choppy, agitated ripples and the trees bend, storm-lashed, towards the centre of his images – two motifs that can also be observed in the present work.