Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraaten (1622 – 1666) Winter Pleasures before the Village

Winter Pleasures before the Village
Signed lower right: JA. Beerstraaten
Oil on canvas.
67 × 90 cm / 26.38 × 35.43 in

A diagonally receding frozen body of water with a repoussoir-like riverbank and bare, snow-covered trees. In the middle ground, several houses, a manor house with a massive chamfered tower, and a church with a Gothic choir, as well as two towers on the west end and a bell turret. Multiple figures in contemporary dress, arranged in depth, enjoying winter pastimes. Another winter landscape, held in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam under inventory number A4134, also depicts a church in the middle ground and ice skaters in the foreground. Although the composition varies slightly and the church is based on a different model, it is unmistakably clear to the viewer that our painting must be by the same hand.

Provenance:
Weinmüller, Munich, 20/21 May 1970, lot 3, illustrated.
Galerie Leger, London, 1972.
Lempertz, Cologne, 14 June 1976, cat. no. 22, illustrated.
Weinmüller, Munich, 27/28 October 1976, cat. no. 1075, illustrated.
Sotheby’s, London, 19 April 1989, cat. no. 114, illustrated in colour.
Acquired c. 1976 at Haus der Gemälde, Maximilianstraße 21, from Thomas Datzmann.
Collection of Karl Heckl (+1988), president of 1860 München and construction entrepreneur.
Noble ownership, Starnberg.

Expertise:
The 1970 catalogue mentions a certificate by Dr. Bernt (Munich), dated 7 July 1967, quoting:
“…is a flawless, characteristic, and very well-preserved work by the Amsterdam landscape painter A.B.”