(Antwerp 1688–1739 Paris)
A hilly landscape with two windmills and wagons,
fragments of a signature lower left,
oil on copper, 14.5 x 19.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Austria

Literature:
K. Ertz, C. Nitze-Ertz, Josef van Bredael, Lingen 2006, p. 180, cat. no. F 114

Klaus Ertz confirmed the authenticity of the present painting (written certificate dated 30 September 2016).

When Klaus Ertz published the painting as ‘questionable’ in his van Bredael monograph in 2006, he did so on the basis of a small black-and-white photograph. He wrote: ‘A replica of cat. 113 (Wide Hilly Landscape with Windmills, Kunsthalle Hamburg, inv. no. 790) doubtful as to its attribution.’ Having seen the picture in the original in 2016, he completely revised his opinion. He is now convinced that it is an autograph work by van Bredael, and a masterpiece by the hand of this artist.

Ertz writes: ‘The condition of the painting can be described as very good. The colours give a brilliant impression. The painting to be assessed here is one of the most superb and excellent examples by this artist I know […]. Today, now that I know the original, I can classify this picture, which I formerly identified as “questionable” under cat. F 114, as one of his principal works […].’ To corroborate his attribution of the painting to Josef van Bredael, Ertz compares it to the following three works by this painter: 1. Wide Hilly Landscape with Two Windmills (Galerie de Boer, Amsterdam. cat. E 111); 2. Wide Landscape with Travellers by a Windmill (Galerie de Boer, Amsterdam, cat. E 112); 3. Wide Hilly Landscape with Windmills, Kunsthalle Hamburg, cat. E 113). Ertz characterising van Bredael further: ‘The very loose brushwork adumbrating things instead of defining them down to the last detail, the slightly blurred painting style, the manner of not always modelling figures and animals quite precisely, the altogether very painterly approach, and the homogenous overall effect of blues and browns – these are all stylistic peculiarities that can always be found in van Bredael’s originals.’