(Haarlem 1620-1683 Amsterdam) A shepherd with cattle crossing a river, c. 1657-59, signed CPBerchem, black chalk, brush, pen, grey and black ink, partly retouched by a later hand with the brush and grey ink, framing lines in pen and brown ink, 18,2 x 25,2 cm, laid down on later laid paper, slightly browned, minute foxing, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance: Sybrandt I Feitama (1620-1701) (Notitie der Teekeningen van Sybrand Feitama, 1746: "A Mannetje dat twee Osjes over't water leid; met oostind: inkt, zonder jaartal. kost. volgens oudste Notitie, omtrent Ao 1690 4--."); Isaac Feitama (1666-1709); Sybrand II Feitama (1694-1758), his sale, Amsterdam, Oct. 16, 1758, Kunstbuch C, Nr. 4 ("Een landschap met een rivier, waarin op den voorgrund twee kapitale ossen geleid worden. Omtrent 1655, met zwart kryt en o. i. inkt. zeer kunstig geteekend, 7 by 9 3/4 duim, umgerechnet ca. 177 x 248 mm), an Abraham von Broyel (gest. 1759) für fl 82; Anonyme Auktion Haarlem, 16.6.1801, Kunstbuch B, Nr. 1 ("Een Landschap met een stil Water, waar in door een Man, twe Ossen gelyd worden, en voor de Man loopt een blaffende Hond, uitmuntend fraai met Zw: Kryt en O: Inkt, door N: Bergham"); Willem Philip Kops (1755-1805), dessen Auktion, Haarlem, 14.3.1808, Kunstbuch I, Nr. 2 ("Een Landschap aan een Rivier; een Herder met een Hond, geleidt twee Ossen door dezelve. Fraai met zwart krijt en O. I. inkt, door N. Berghem), for fl. 101 an Josi; Austrian private collection, acquired in 1970 in Innsbruck.

With a certificate by Dr. Annemarie Stefes, Bremen, July 13, 2013.

This drawing which is considered a characteristic sheet of Berchem seems to have been lost in an unknown private collection for a long time. However, the drawing was listed in "Notitie der Teekeningen" by Sybrand Feitama: Acquired for 4 guilders, being kept for three generations in the posession of the family and sold at an estate auction of Sybrand Feitama the Younger in 1758. Subsequently Abraham van Broyal acquired the sheet for 82 guilders but sold it soon afterwards: The sheet cannot be traced in the estate sale of Broyal in 1758. The drawing appeared again briefly in the early 19th century on the Haarlem art market. The present owner acquired the sheet in a small antiquarian bookshop in 1970.

The suggested dating „c. 1655“ of the sheet in the Feitama auction catalogue can be confirmed. At around 1655 Berchem signed his drawings with „Berchem“ instead of the older spelling „Berghem“. The sheet is drawn with a feathery penstroke over slightly jagged outlines in black chalk. The cattle drover is moving with almost dance-like grace across a stagelike foreground. The drawing is thus comparable with sheets by Berchem from the second half of the 1650s. The strong brush drawing which creates volume and depth through heavy accents and at the same time evokes southern light, places the sheet near drawings such as „Shepherdesses at the well“ which was executed around 1659 (Haarlem, Teylers Museum, Inv.-Nr. Q 12, exh.cat. Nicolaes Berchem, Haarlem/Zürich/Schwerin 2006/07, No. Z 59; compare also "Allegories of the Four Elements" in Vienna, Albertina, Inv.-Nr. 9824-9827, ebd. p. 107, Fig. 46). The overall impression of the drawing is somewhat obscure in the damaged area in the right background. The area with its color losses above the group of shepherds which are drawn with an authentic and tight brushstroke, as well as the reflection of the foliage of the trees in the water were apparently retouched by a later and clumsy hand.