MOLIJN, PIETER DE
1595 London - 1661 Haarlem


Title: Landscape with two Farm Carts and Pedestrians on the Way.
Technique: Oil on wood.
Mounting: Partially parquetted.
Measurement: 35.5 x 31cm.
Notation: Signed lower left: "PMolijn".
Frame: Framed.
Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany;
Kunsthandel Castendijk, Rotterdam, 1990;
Presumably auction Christie's, London, 2nd June, 1792, lot 65;
Presumably auction of the collection dissolution after his death, Schomberg House, London, spring 1789, lot 37;
Presumably Sammlung Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788).

We are grateful to Ellis Dullaart, RKD, Den Haag, who confirmed the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph.

The provenance history of this painting is particularly exciting from an art historical perspective: the collection of the English painter Thomas Gainsborough included a painting by Pieter de Molijn with this motif of peasant carts on the road in front of a croft. As another version of Molijn's painting exists, it is not possible to determine beyond doubt which of the two known panels belonged to Gainsborough, who painted a free version based on this motif (now in the Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco). However, minor motif similarities or deviations in the other painting suggest that the work shown here is the one owned by Thomas Gainsborough.