Gillis de Hondecoeter Southern landscape with... Lot 1021

Gillis de Hondecoeter Southern landscape with riders and resting people Oil on wood. 73.5 x 92.7 cm. Monogrammed and dated lower left: DH (joined) 1621. Provenance Rhenish private collection. Gillis Claesz. de Hondecoeter was the founder of a prestigious dynasty of painters: both his son Gijsbert de Hondecoeter and his grandsons Melchior de Hondecoeter and Jan Weenix became successful painters in 17th and early 18th century Holland. Gillis Claesz. de Hondecoeter was born in Antwerp. The family fled to Delft in 1585 and from then on Gillis worked in the northern Netherlands. However, his painting style remained influenced throughout his life by Flemish landscape painting, in particular by Gillis van Coninxloo, Roelant Savery and David Vinckboons. Gillis de Hondecoeter is not known to have traveled to Italy. Like other Netherlandish painters, he adopted the southern landscape motifs from works by other artists.