European Art & Old Masters: 500 Years

Provenance: Private Collection, Pennsylvania.

NOTE:

Willem Koekkoek was a member of one of the better known and most highly regarded families of realist painters in 19th century Holland. Born in Amsterdam, he was the grandson of Jan Hermanus Koekkoek (1778-1851), the son of Hermanus Koekkoek the Elder (1815-1882) and the brother of Johannes Hermanus Barend Koekkoek (1840-1912). Other painters in the family included Johannes Barend Cornelis, a first cousin, Barend Cornelis (1803-1862) and Marinus Adrianus (1807-1868). Willem studied art under his father Hermanus, and is best known for his town scenes, including in winter, as in the present example. Although he mainly lived in The Hague, Utrecht and Amsterdam, Willem Koekkoek frequently exhibited in Leeuwarden and Rotterdam. Concentrating almost exclusively on Netherlandish townscapes, which he liked to imagine rather than copy directly from nature, Koekkoek found a market for his work amongst the affluent middle class in the Netherlands and Great Britain.

We wish to thank the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, also known as R.K.D, for confirming the authenticity of the present lot.