Tobias Verhaecht and Sebastiaen Vrancx

(Antwerp 1561–1631)
(Antwerp 1573–1647)
Two riders on a hill, with ancient ruins and a river landscape below,
oil on canvas, 111 x 155 cm, framed

The present painting comes with a report by Walther Bernt (in photocopy).

Verhaecht was born into a well-known Antwerp based family of artists. His landscapes were entirely in the Flemish tradition of the Mannerist landscape of the late sixteenth century. While based on compositions by Gillis van Coninxloo and his circle, the artist’s oeuvre also distinctly reveals an influence from the art of Joos de Momper. In addition to Jan Brueghel I and Frans Francken II, Verhaecht occasionally also collaborated with Sebastiaen Vrancx, who in the case of the present painting added the figures in the fore- and middle ground. A comparable panorama landscape by the hand of Verhaecht was offered at Sotheby’s, New York, on 29 January 2016, lot 457.


Additional image:
Piranesi, engraving from Le antichità romane, vol. 2, plate LX