Leda and Swan - 18thC Old Master Continental School mythological oil painting

Circa 1800

This lovely Dutch Old Master oil painting is attributed to artist Pieter Wouwerman. Painted circa 1660 it is figurative landscape with horseback travellers and their dogs in the foreground with ruins on their right. Beyond is a river and hilly landscape, all in the fading light of approaching dusk. There are some superb details making this an excellent Dutch Golden Age oil painting. Provenance: Devonshire estate. Condition. Oil on canvas, 24 inches by 20 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in a complementary gilt frame, 31 inches by 27 inches and in good condition. Pieter Wouwerman (1623-1682) was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter. He was born in Haarlem. According to Arnold Houbraken, a biographer of artists from the Dutch Golden Age, Pieter Wouwerman was the brother of the landscape painters Jan and Philips Wouwerman, who, like his more famous brother, made a living selling Italianate landscapes in the manner of Pieter van Laer...

This fantastic Flemish 17th century Old Master oil painting is by Thomas Van Apshoven. It was painted circa 1650 and depicts a village with figures outside a tavern, eating, drinking and dancing. Beyond are more dwellings, villagers and animals, all under a blue summer's sky. The detail, brushwork and vibrant colouring are superb. This is an excellent example of Apshoven's work and a typical subject he loved to paint. Provenance. Leominster estate. Wax stamp verso. Condition. Oil on panel, 22 inches by 17 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed In beautiful gilt frame, 30 inches by 25 inches and in good condition. Thomas van Apshoven (1622– 1664) was a Flemish painter known for his landscapes with peasant scenes and genre scenes in interiors. His genre scenes depict village festivals, the interiors of taverns, village scenes or landscapes with peasants engaged in various activities, singeries, guardroom scenes and laboratories of alchemists. Some still lifes have also been attributed to him. His themes and style are close to that of David Teniers the Younger. He was born on 30 November 1622 in Antwerp as the eldest son of Ferdinand van Apshoven the Elder and Leonora Wijns. His father was a painter who had studied with Adam van Noort and had become a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1596. No paintings by his father are known. His younger brother Ferdinand van Apshoven the Younger became also a successful painter. Thomas studied under his father. Some sources state that he became a pupil of the prominent genre painter David Teniers the Younger. It is more likely, however, that he was an imitator of Teniers. He was registered as a 'wijnmeester' [son of a master] in the Guild of St. Luke of Antwerp in the guild year 1645–1646. He married Barbara Janssens on 22 March 1645. The couple had four children. The godfathers of the children included the painters Victor Wolfvoet...

This superb 17th century Dutch Golden Age oil painting has been more recently reattributed to Abraham Begeyn by Dr Marijke C. de Kinkelder formerly of the RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History. Painted circa 1640 it is an Italianate wooded river landscape with drovers and their herd crossing a river with a watchtower beyond. Begeyn was one of the many 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painters to embrace the Italianate style, populating their decidedly non-Dutch, mountainous landscapes with rustic travellers and picturesque ruins bathed in warm, Mediterranean light. It has Begeyn's characteristic brightly lit cattle and grouping of figures, similar to a comparable painting in the Lichtenstein Princely Collections. The brushwork and details are superb. One can see the influence of his teacher Nicholaes Berchem (1620-1683) and the typical golden glow of the Golden Age painters. This is a stunning 17th century Golden Age oil painting and an excellent example of Begeyn's work. Provenance: With Koetser Gallery, Zurich. Private Collection (Rhine region). Anon. sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 22 June 2010, lot 357, as by Jacob de Heusch (€18,600). Anon. sale, Christie's South Kensington,18 November 2015, lot 432, as 'Follower of Nicolaes Berchem'; where purchased by the present owner. Note: Begeyn was one of the many 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painters to embrace the Italianate style, populating their decidedly non-Dutch, mountainous landscapes with rustic travellers and picturesque ruins bathed in warm, Mediterranean light. He is thought to have studied under Nicolaes Berchem (1620-1683), a pioneer of this genre of landscape painting, and travelled extensively to Italy, London and later to Germany in 1688, where he lived out his days as court painter to Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg (later Frederick I, King of Prussia). The present work was previously thought to be the work of Jacob de Heusch (1656-1701), but has been more recently reattributed to Abraham Begeyn by Dr Marijke C. de Kinkelder formerly of the RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History. A comparable scene, which also includes Begeyn's characteristic brightly lit cattle and a similar figure group, was sold at Christie's Amsterdam, 18 November 2015, lot 110. Another can be found in the Liechtenstein Princely Collections (no.GE 290). Condition. Oil on canvas, image size 21 inches by 18 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in a beautiful gilt frame, 28 inches by 25 inches and in good condition. Abraham Begeyn (c. 1637 Leiden - 11 June 1697 Berlin), was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Begeyn was born in Leiden. Though perhaps known mostly for his Italianate landscapes and cattle in the manner of Nicolaes Pietersz Berchem, Begyn was a highly skilled painter active in many genres, who travelled widely. According to the RKD, Begeyn's earliest known work is from 1653, though he was first accepted into the Guild of St. Luke in Leiden in 1655. He stopped paying dues in 1667, because he set off for a trip to Italy. He is registered in Rome and Naples from 1659–1660. In the rampjaar or disaster year, of 1672, he is registered in Amsterdam, and after that he lived in London, where he painted at Ham House, Surrey, together with Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633–1707) and Dirck van Bergen...

This very busy oil on panel is a Dutch Old Master painting dating to around 1620 by artist and poet Willem van Nieulandt. It is an incredibly detailed and colourful scene composed of...