Stag Hunt in a River

Artist Philips Wouwerman Dutch, 1619–1668

Datecirca 1650–1655

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions53 1/8 x 76 3/4 in. (134.9 x 194.9 cm)
Frame: 66 1/8 x 90 1/8 in. (168 x 228.9 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Object number52.9.64

On View

On view

ProvenanceCreated Haarlem, Netherlands, ca. 1650–1655. Private collection, England; Sollier (merchant); Nicolas Beaujon (1718–1786), Paris [1]. François-Antoine Robit (c. 1762–1815), Paris, by 1801; [his sale, Paillet and Delaroche, Paris, May 11–18, 1801, no. 171, as Philippe Wouvermans]; Caillard. Probably Charles Ferdinand d’Artois, duc de Berry (1778–1820); to his widow Maria-Caroline-Ferdinande-Louise de Bourbon, duchesse de Berry (1798–1870), Paris; [her sale, M. Bataillard, Paris, April 4–6, 1837, no. 54, as Le Cerf Forcé, Philippe Wouverman]; [2] Louis Fould (1794–1858); [his sale, Charles P[a]illet, Paris, June 4, 1860, tableaux no. 21, as Le Cerf Forcé, Ph. Wouwermans] [3]; his son Édouard Fould (1834–1881), Paris; [his sale, Hȏtel Drouot, Paris, April 5–9, 1869, no. 15, as Le cerf forcé, Philippe Wouwerman]; Lev [Leo] Tolstoy, Count Tolstoy (1828–1910). P. A. B. Widener (1834–1915), Philadelphia, before 1900; by inheritance to Joseph Widener (1871–1943), Philadelphia. Ernest James Wythes (1868–1949), Copped Hall, Epping, Essex, England; [his sale, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, March 1, 1946, no. 13, as A Stag Hunt]; [Leonard Koetser, London, and Koetser Gallery, New York]; private collection, USA; [Norton Galleries, New York]; sold to NCMA, 1952.

[1] Not among the three paintings by Wouwerman sold after Beaujon’s death (Remy and Julliot, Paris, April 25, 1787, nos. 51-53).
[2] Annotated version of the 1837 catalogue in Ghent University (accessed 2/23/2021 via Google Books), notes that Fould was the buyer at this sale.
[3] According to the Dictionnaire des ventes (1911-12), tome 7, 553, the work was sold at the 1860 Louis Fould sale. It’s possible that the buyer was Édouard Fould, since the work was soon thereafter in his collection, but no annotation has been found indicating a direct transfer. Barring evidence to the contrary, and given the familial connection between these subsequent owners, as well as the 1860 sale provenance being listed in the 1869 E. Fould catalogue, a semicolon has been used to indicate the likelihood of a direct transfer.
Published References“Catalogue d’une riche collection de tableaux…tout provenant du célébre
cabinet du citoyen Robit,” (auction catalogue) (Paillet and Delaroche, Paris, May 11-18, 1801), no. 171, as Philippe Wouvermans.

John Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, Part 1 (London: Smith and Sons, 1829), cat. no. 229; Part 9, Supplement (London, Messrs. Smith, 1842), cat. no. 87.

“Catalogue descriptive des Tableaux de l'école hollandaise, flamande et
française, provenant de l'ancienne Galerie du Palais de l'Élysée,” (auction catalogue) (M. Bataillard, Paris, April 4–6, 1837), no. 54, as Le Cerf Forcé, Philippe Wouverman.

“Catalogue de la précieuse collection d’objets d’art d’antiquités et de tableaux
de feu M. Louis Fould,” (auction catalogue) (Charles P[a]illet, Paris, June 4, 1860), tableaux 264, no. 21, as Le Cerf Forcé, Ph. Wouwermans.

“Catalogue des objets d’art et de haute curiosité ainsi que des tableaux
anciens et modernes composant les collections des M. Édouard Fould,” (auction catalogue) (Hȏtel Drouot, Paris, April 5–9, 1869), no. 15, as Le cerf forcé, Philippe Wouwerman.

Catalogue of Paintings Forming the Private Collection of P. A. Widener: Ashbourne - near Philadelphia, Part 2 (Paris: Goupil and Co., 1885-1900), cat. no. 284, illus. (as Hunting Scene).

C[ornelis] Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century (based on the work of John Smith), Vol. 2 (London: MacMillan and Co., 1909), cat. no. 635.

"Catalogue of Old Pictures, the Property of E.J. Wythes, Esq.," (auction catalogue) (London: Christie, Manson & Woods, March 1, 1946), no. 13, as A Stag Hunt.

W. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 74, illus. (b-w).

Seventeenth-Century Painters of Haarlem (exhibition catalogue) (Allentown: Allentown Art Museum, 1965), cat. no. 93, illus. 77.

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 110.

Peter C. Sutton, Masters of 17th Century Dutch Landscape Painting (exhibition catalogue) (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1987), cat. no. 122, illus. 534, fig. 1.

Mariët Westermann, A Worldly Art: The Dutch Republic, 1585-1718 (New York: Harry Abrams, 1996), 140-41, illus. (color) 140.

Birgit Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1688): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age (Doornspijk: Davaco Publishers, 2006), Vol. 1: cat. no. A156, also mentioned 65, 95, 234; Vol. 2: illus. (b-w) fig. 147.

Dennis P. Weller, Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings [Systematic Catalogue of the Collection] (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2009), cat. no. 47, illus. (color) 223.

Dennis P. Weller, entry for Stag Hunt in a River, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 226, illus. (color) 227.

Neil Jeffares, "Vigee Le Brun, Nicolas Beaujon," entry for Pastels & Pastellists, 2018.
Exhibition HistoryAllentown, PA, Allentown Art Museum, "Seventeenth-Century Painters of Haarlem," April 2-June 13, 1965, cat. no. 93, illus. 77.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Dutch Art in the Age of Rembrandt," October 25, 1986-February 15, 1987.

Boston, MA, Museum of Fine Arts, "Masters of 17th-Century Dutch Landscape Painting," February 3-May 1, 1988; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, October 2, 1987-January 3, 1988; Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, June 5-July 31, 1988, cat. no. 122, illus. 534, fig. 1.

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