A winter landscape with figures near a village

This small, hitherto unknown painting, showing an unusual winter landscape by Barend Cornelis Koekkoek is a beautiful specimen of his small “cabinet-paintings”. The painting shows a very romantic, idealized capriccio of a city in the winter. In the centre of the composition is the snow covered street, coming from the right and proceeding into the depth of the painting, creating a wonderful perspective. To the right there is an imposing castle on a steep cliff.
The representative houses to the right of the street give the impression that the painter is situated at the entrance of a prospering city. Also at the left side of the street Koekkoek represents a romantic, medieval castle, with two round towers. On the busy street there are many people, going into or leaving the town.

A similar composition by Barend Cornelis Koekkoek (oil on panel, 21.1 x 17.6 cm, signed and dated '1848') was with Kunsthandel Albricht, Arnhem, 1980.

We kindly thank Drs. Guido de Werd for his help in cataloguing the present lot and dating this romantic capriccio to the early 1840s. The painting will be included in Drs. Guido de Werd's forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné as: no. 0/20,5.