Lot number 3619 - Auction 141
EINE MILCHMAGD MELKT KÜHE AUF DER WEIDE, UM 1650

AELBERT JACOBSZ. CUYP late October 1620 (baptised) Dordrecht - 15 November 1691 (buried) ibid A MILKMAID MILKING COWS IN THE PASTURE, AROUND 1650 Oil on oak panel (cradled). 49 x 57.4 cm (F. 74.5 x 83.3 cm). Signed lower left: 'A. Cuyp'. Verso: Old paper collection label on the reverse of the frame: No. 4 Name of the subject: Cattle Piece Artist: Cuyp Property of: Lady Clinton: Address: Fettercairn House Fettercairn. On the reverse of the oak panel red wax seal with the coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, also James Irvine's wax seal with a bearded portrait in profile, wearing a crown, as well as a collector's seal with the initials PSA. Part. slightly old rest., min. old retouching. Very elaborate classicist frame moulding, around 1790/1800. In a letter dated 15 September 1827, James Irvine reports on one of several examples of his dealings with the Italian authorities: I am happy to say that I have just got from the custom house the Cuyp [...] without paying duty on pretence of cleaning. Having been sent without paying the custom house from whence [it] came by the commission there, a present must of course be made him, but I hope a good deal may be saved [...]'. The letter from Giuseppe Domenichini, agent of Count Luigi Pietro Aldrovandi Marescotti, dated 24 August 1827 from Bologna, lists paintings that James Irvine had bought for Sir William Forbes, including two paintings of animals, one by Paolo Potter, the other by Cuyp for 2640 lire. The painting by Paulus Pietersz. Potter, depicting cows, a sheep and a shepherd in the landscape, has the same provenance and framing as the painting by Cuyp. It also bears the wax seal with the coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The literature indicates that, like Cuyp's painting, it was brought to Bologna from Vienna, where Leopold II and Ferdinand III resided. It can be assumed that the paintings in Vienna received the seal between 1793 and 1827. The painting by Potter was auctioned at Sotheby's in London on 7 December 2016 for GBP 236,750. Literature: Fettercairn House, inventory, 1917. Fettercairn House, inventory, 1930. Catalogue Sotheby's London, Auction Old Master Paintings, Evening Sale, London, 7 December 2016, lot 6, page 32ff. Expertise: Attached dendrochronological examination to determine the age of the oak panel by Prof. Dr. Klein, dated 30.05.2022 is available. Dr. Klein assumes that the painting was created from 1646 onwards. Provenance: Ev. Leopold I (1747-1792), of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Vienna and/or Ferdinand III (Tuscany) (1769-1824), of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Vienna; Giuseppe Domenichini, commissioned by Count Luigi Pietro Aldrovandi Marescotti, Bologna; Acquired by James Irvine on behalf of Sir William Forbes, 7th Baronet of Pitsligo (1773-1828), of Fettercairn, Kincardineshire, Scotland, 24 August 1827, in Bologna, for 2640 lire (as one of 'due quadri rappresentanti animali (...) l'altro da Cuyp'); By succession to his son Sir John Stuart Hepburn-Forbes, 8th Baronet of Pitsligo (1804-1866); By succession to his son-in-law Charles Trefusis, 20th Baron Clinton (1834-1904); From there by succession until 2022.