by-nc

Study of a tree - birch (?)

Maker

(artist)
1595-1672

Title

Study of a tree - birch (?)

Date of Production

(circa) 1640 - 1660

Medium

black and white chalk, moistened in areas, on blue-prepared laid paper, laid down

Dimensions

Height: 28.5 cm
Width: 19.9 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.950

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords




Label Text

This graceful drawing of a birch, the fall of light on its leaves and trunk rendered with delicate touches of white chalk, is remarkable for its fresh and meticulous observation. Such slender trees frequently populate van Uden’s paintings and watercolours of woodland scenes, but ‘portraits’ of trees such as this one seldom seem to have been made as direct preliminary studies for larger compositions.

Provenance

probably purchased at a sale in Paris by unidentified collector, L.3000, around 1775-90; Benno Geiger, Italy and Vienna (1882-1965); his sale, Sotheby's (London), 7 - 10 December 1920, lot 525; E. Parsons & Sons (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d. (£3); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - Regarding Trees, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 18/06/2016-25/09/2016

Landscapes in the Making: Dutch & Flemish 16-17th Century Drawings from the Courtauld Gallery, Tobu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, 03/11/2000-24/12/2000; Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Shizuoka, 02/02/2001-11/03/2001; Koriyama City Museum of Art, Koriyama, 17/03/2001-15/04/2001

The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/09/1986-30/11/1986; The Drawing Center, New York, 08/04/1986-26/07/1986 ...More

Flemish drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, October 1977-January 1978

Master Drawings from the Witt and Courtauld Collections, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 17/11/1962-22/12/1962

Exhibition of Belgian and Flemish Art 1300-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1927 ...Less

Literature

Flemish Drawings of the Seventeenth Century. From the Collection of Frits Lugt Institut Néerlandais Paris, Carlos van Hasselt (ed.), Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Institut Néerlandais, Paris; Kunstmuseum, Bern; Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels
p. 154 note 12 under no. 111

The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1986
cat. no. 22
ill. p. 69

Flemish drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, October 1977- January 1978
cat. no. 51 ...More

Anthony Blunt and Philip Troutman, Master Drawings from the Witt and Courtauld Collections, 1962
cat. no. 47

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 132

Exhibition of Belgian and Flemish Art 1300-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London 1927, 1927
cat. no. 635 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: unable to check due to backing sheet.

Inscription: Recto: lower left corner, brown ink, written over earlier inscription in brown ink: "V. Uden". Verso (backing sheet): upper centre, graphite: "129r"; centre: "40"; lower centre, graphite, Witt number: "950 / Uden".

Collector's mark: Verso (backing sheet): centre, stamped in brown ink: Guillaume Jean Constantin (L.3000) numbered “24” [suggested on Lugt to be a price]; lower right corner, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

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