Dutch or Flemish School - An Extensive Landscape with Trees

Dutch or Flemish School, probably early-mid seventeenth century

An Extensive Landscape with Trees

Pen and brown wash on paper laid on an eighteenth-century mount
unframed: 26.8 x 18.8 cm (10 1/2 x 7 3/8 in)
with frame: 50 x 41 cm (19 5/8 x 16 1/8 in)

Provenance:
Count Gustaf Adolf Sparre (Gothenburg 1746–1794, Kulla Gunnarstorp Castle, Province of Skåne, Sweden) (Lugt 2719);
his daughter Christina Sparre (1778–1811), married to Count Jakob Gustav De la Gardie (Stockholm 1768–1842, Stockholm), Löberöd Manor, Province of Skåne (Lugt 2722a);
thence by descent to Pontus de la Gardie (1884–1970), Borrestad Manor, Province of Skåne; thence by descent until 2020;
An important Swedish private collection. 

Essay:
The Sparre/De la Gardie collection is one of Sweden’s most important collections of drawings. In 1969, upon the death of Pontus de la Gardie, the collection—comprising approximately 800 drawings—became the property of the Swedish state as stipulated in a will dating back to 1881. However, a select number of drawings, 15 in total, remained with various family members, including the present sheet.

The collection has two primary sources. Through his marriage in 1799 to Christina Sparre, Jacob Gustaf De la Gardie inherited a remarkable art collection assembled by his father-in-law, Count Gustaf Adolf Sparre (1746–1794). This collection included outstanding examples of works by some of the greatest French, Dutch, and Flemish painters, featuring three paintings by Rembrandt and approximately 250 drawings. While serving as Swedish ambassador to Vienna, Jacob Gustaf De la Gardie received a substantial gift of old drawings from Duke Albert of Sachsen-Teschen, parts of which originated from the collection of Prince Charles de Ligne.

Count Sparre’s collection was largely amassed during his Grand Tour (1768–1772), which took him to England, Holland, Germany, and Paris, where he spent three years. Sparre’s wealth, derived from the East India Trading Company based in Gothenburg, enabled him to acquire these exceptional works. His collection was housed both in Gothenburg and at Kulla Gunnarstorp, a manor in southern Sweden. While his drawings collection contained only a handful of Dutch and Flemish works, they were of extraordinary quality, including pieces by Beuckelaer, Jordaens, Rubens, and Rembrandt.

For the Count Sparre collection of paintings, see Ingmar Hasselgren, Konstsamlaren G.A. Sparre, 1974. For an extensive discussion of the Sparre/De la Gardie collection, see Börje Magnusson, The De la Gardie (Borrestad) Collection of Drawings, in Nationalmuseum Bulletin, 1982, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 113–159.