In this charming picture, a rocky river valley opens beneath a high bridge crowned with a small dwelling, its chimney trailing smoke against a hazy sky. To the left, a church and cloister nestle at the foot of a steep, tree-topped cliff, while a distant walled town climbs the hillside on the right. Travellers with staffs and a laden packhorse pause on the winding path; beneath the arch, a moored boat, a watermill with turning wheels, and huddled riverside cottages animate the middle ground.

The painting - a blend of imaginary topography, staffage, and light Italianate atmosphere - is typical of the oeuvre of the Antwerp landscape painter Maerten Ryckaert. [1] It demonstrates Ryckaert's characteristic synthesis of influences from his Antwerp contemporaries: the overall composition and figure placement recall Jan Brueghel the Elder, while the warm color treatment—particularly the atmospheric blues in the distance—shows the influence of Joos de Momper. The Italianate elements, including the treatment of light and the imaginary quality of the landscape, reflect Ryckaert's presumed travels to Italy between 1607 and 1610, where he may have seen the work of Paul Bril - who was to have a lasting influence on his oeuvre -  firsthand. [2]

Marten Ryckaert was baptized in Antwerp on 8 December 1587, the second son of David Rijckaert the Elder and Catharina Rem. His father was a brewer and painter of wooden statues who had become a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1585 and was also active as an art dealer. Marten had seven siblings, including his older brother David the Younger (born 1586), who became a prominent still life painter. He was the uncle of David Ryckaert III, the celebrated genre painter.

As the result of a birth defect or accident, Ryckaert had only one arm—a disability that did not prevent him from achieving considerable success as a painter. He probably first studied with his father before becoming a pupil of Tobias Verhaecht (or Verhaeght), who was also Peter Paul Rubens' first teacher. In 1607, Ryckaert became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke, registered as "the one-armed painter" (den eenarmige schilder). It is believed he traveled to Italy between 1607 and 1610, though no documentary evidence of this trip has been found. He rejoined the Antwerp Guild in 1611, and spent the remainder of his professional career in his native city.

After his return from Italy, Ryckaert joined De Violieren, the prestigious Antwerp chamber of rhetoric, alongside contemporaries including Jan Brueghel, Hendrick van Balen, and Sebastiaen Vrancx. [3] He never married and amassed a considerable art collection in his house on the Meyerstraat in Antwerp. He was reportedly a close friend of Anthony van Dyck, who painted his striking portrait around 1630,—a remarkable image that depicts the artist's disability with dignified directness. This portrait remained in Ryckaert's possession until his death and is today in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. [4] It was engraved by Jacob Neefs and included in van Dyck's famous Iconography, the series of portrait prints of eminent contemporaries.

Ryckaert specialized in small imaginary landscapes on panel or copper, much like the present work. Like his contemporary Isaac van Oosten, Ryckaert frequently painted small-scale landscape panels intended for insertion into the decorative programs of Antwerp art cabinets—the elaborate ebonized furniture pieces that were among the city's most prestigious luxury exports during the early 17th century. Ryckaert fell ill in early 1631 and was buried in Antwerp on 11 October of that year. He left his entire fortune to his sister Maria and his brother Pauwel (or Pauwels). His surviving oeuvre consists primarily of these carefully executed landscapes that demonstrate his ability to synthesize the best qualities of his Flemish predecessors while maintaining a distinctive personal style characterized by warm tonalities and atmospheric effects.

END NOTES

[1] A slightly different version of the present work was sold at Dorotheum, Vienna, 19 September 1972, lot 114 (oil on copper, 13,5 x 16,5 cm.

[2] Paul Bril (1554-1626), a Flemish painter active in Rome, was highly influential in disseminating an Italianate landscape style throughout Northern Europe through his paintings and, importantly, through widely circulated prints.

[3] De Violieren (The Gillyflowers) was one of Antwerp's chambers of rhetoric (rederijkerskamer)—literary and theatrical societies that played an important cultural role in Netherlandish cities. Membership indicated social status and cultural engagement.

[4] Anthony van Dyck, Portrait of the Painter Marten Rijckaert, c. 1627-1632, Museo del Prado, Madrid, inv. P001479.