Support The panel consists of two horizontally grained, butt-joined oak planks (approx. 18.5 and 24.5 cm), approx 0.8 cm thick. The reverse is bevelled on all sides and has plane marks, irregularly spaced saw marks, and exposed holes on the left and right from dowels used to join the planks. Dendrochronology has shown that both planks are from the same tree and that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1615. The panel could have been ready for use by 1626, but a date in or after 1632 is more likely.
Preparatory layers The single, off-white ground extends up to the edges of the support. It consists of white pigment and very few red earth and black pigment particles.
Underdrawing No underdrawing could be detected with the naked eye or infrared photography.
Paint layers The paint extends up to the edges of the support. The composition was built up from the back to the front, leaving a reserve for the landscape. The buildings were executed with opaque paint consisting of earth, black and some blue pigment particles. The thin, transparent brown used for the path and tracks was already dry when mechanical impact caused numerous small losses. These were then covered with many of the opaque dabs and trails defining the foreground. Considerable attention was given to impasted details, such as the stones, bricks and vegetation at the front. Strong pastose brush marks in the centre and the right-hand part of the sky, which are visible to the naked eye and even more clearly so with infrared photography, might indicate areas where compositional elements were started, possibly tall trees or cloud formations, and later abandoned.
Gwen Tauber [publication date 2026]

Fair. The bottom corners of the panel are slightly damaged. There is a horizontal crack in the wood (approx. 13 cm) at the bottom left and two smaller ones (approx. 2.5 and 2 cm) running in from the left edge, just above the join. There are two holes at half height, one on the far left, the other on the far right. On the reverse, a canvas strip over the join (no longer present) has left its imprint in the residual glue. The irregular varnish has severely yellowed and appears slightly pigmented as seen in a cross-section.

…; sale, J.B. Plasman (†) et al., Cologne (J.M. Heberle), 18 December 1896 sqq., no. 60 (‘Flußlandschaft bei Abendstimmung. Rechts mit hügeligem Ufer ein Fluss, auf dem zwei Fischer im Kahn, im fernsten Hintergrunde von einem schmalen Landstreifen begrenzt. Links im Vorgrunde führt ein breiter Weg an einem Hügel vorbei zu einem castellartigen Gebäude, das bereits im Schatten liegt und an dessen Thor ein Mann mit zwei Pferden und eine Frau beschäftigt sind. Ganz vorne bei einem Holzstosse zwei Frauen in Unterhaltung. Auf einem Balken links bezeichnet: C.D. Jongh 1633. Holz, Höhe 44, Breite 69 Cent.’), 135 Reichsmark, to Borchart;¹¹Copy RKD.…; sale, Paul Delaroff (1852-1913, St Petersburg), Paris (Georges Petit), 23 April 1914 sqq., no. 150bis (‘Paysage. A gauche, une tour ronde au bas de laquelle on a ménagé une porte cintrée. A droite, sur une rivière, un petit bateau. Le paysage est animé par quatre figures et deux chevaux vus de profil. Signé en bas, à gauche sur une poutre: C.D. Jongh, 1633. Panneau: Haut. cm 43, Larg. cm 69.’), fr. 800;²²Copy RKD2; Hofstede de Groot notes, RKD.…; presented by Baron Balthasar Ungern-Sternberg, to the museum, July 1920; on loan to the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 1922-42

Object number: SK-A-2842

Credit line: Gift of B., Baron Ungern-Sternberg

The small oeuvre of Claude de Jongh, who had a relatively short career, consists of topographical views which he based mainly on drawings that he made during a stay in England in 1627 and Italianate landscapes, of which this one dated 1633 is a good example. Its cisalpine nature is seen mainly in the brightly sunlit fortress or walled town and the style of architecture. The sky is clear. What look like clouds in the centre and on the right are in fact pastose brush marks of an earlier concept showing through.⁷⁷See Technical notes.

De Jongh was never in Italy, as far as we know, so he must have drawn the inspiration for his Italianate landscapes from local artists such as Cornelis van Poelenburch, who returned to Utrecht in 1627. The almost complete absence of trees is typical of De Jongh. That and the action of the bright sunlight give this scene an odd look, which is heightened by the impasto used for the brightly lit passages. The monochrome palette betrays the influence of the Haarlem School, explained by the time he spent in that city after his return from England.

Richard Harmanni [publication date 2026]

See Key to abbreviations, Rijksmuseum painting catalogues and Acknowledgements

J. Hayes, ‘Claude de Jongh’, The Burlington Magazine 98 (1956), pp. 3-11, esp. pp. 8, 11

1976, p. 307, A 2842

Richard Harmanni, 2026, 'Claude de Jongh, Italianate Landscape, 1633', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20028157