JAN JOSEFSZ VAN GOYEN

Provenance:
probably Collection Arthur Kay in Glasgow
on loan to the Museum in Glasgow 1905
Fred. Muller et co. Amsterdam 1906
Collection August Janssen Amsterdam / Baarn
Art dealer J. Goudstikker 1919 (12000 usd according to a photo in the RKD)
private collection
Art dealer Hoogendijk Amsterdam, Juli 1955
Art dealer J.R. Bier Haarlem 1955
Collection K.W.D. Gratama, Heemstede
art dealer G. Cramer The Hague, his catalogue XVIII(1970)
no, 26 with plate
Where acquired by the present owner

Literature:
C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, vol. VIII, Esslingen 1923, p. 225, cat. no. 10 and probably 15

H. Volhard, Die Grundtypen der Landschaftsbilder Jan van Goyens und ihre Entwicklung, Halle 1927, p. 184
H.-U. Beck, Jan van Goyen, vol. II, Amsterdam 1973, p. 132, cat. no.273, reproduced
Exhibitions:
Catalogue de l’exposition de maîtres hollandaise du XVIIe siècle, Fred. Muller et co. Amsterdam 1906 no 44 with plate

Er was eens… : ons land gezien door schilders in vroeger tijden, exh. cat. Museum het Prinsenhof Delft 1956, cat. no. 131 plate 4
Delft, antiques fair X (1958) with St Lucas The Hague (according to Beck)

This view of Arnhem, One of the earliest versions painted by Van Goyen is comparable in size and viewpoint to the famous picture in the collection of the Fürst von Liechtenstein in Vaduz (HdG14).
Jan van Goyen was the son of a shoemaker. He started his career as an apprentice in Leiden, the town of his birth. Like many Dutch painters of his time, he studied art in Haarlem with Esaias van de Velde. At the age of 35, he established a permanent studio in The Hague.

His landscapes rarely fetched high prices, but he made up for the modest value of individual pieces by increasing his production, painting thinly and quickly with a limited palette of inexpensive pigments. Despite his market innovation, he always sought more income. Not only to related work as an art dealer, but also speculated in tulips and real estates. In van Goyen’s case it led to enormous debts.

His only registered pupils were Nicolaes Berchem, his son-in-law Jan Steen, and Adriaen van der Kabel. The list of painters he influenced is much longer.

The painting once belonged to the famous August Janssen (1864-1918) collection which was bought almost entirely by Goudstikker in 1919. Goudstikker sold Van Goyen’s view on Arnhem immediately. It was never published in one of his catalogues, never mentioned in reviews of the Janssen collection with Goudstikker as for instance the article by Otto Hirschman in Cicerone. Hofstede de Groot even remarked in 1923 (see literature) that it was not with Goudstikker. But since there is a Goudstikker photo (Eilers negative 2848) it must have been there in the summer of 1919.