Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 4, 1912.djvu/671

 xvi PAULUS POTTER 657 bare-headed, in a red jacket, with a drawn sword in his right hand, gallops up on a bay horse to the left behind the struggling animals. The other two men, on foot, cautiously advance with their hunting-spears from behind the tree against the bear. In the left distance of the hilly landscape three horsemen gallop forward. J. W. Pieneman is said to have almost entirely repainted the picture (about 1825). What he did was not quite so serious as that would imply. With careful restoration much of the original painting might be recovered, though this unpleasant picture could not gain much by it. Signed in full on the tree, and dated 1649 ; canvas, 120 inches by 133 inches. The picture came from the house inhabited by Potter's widow, Adriana Balckenende, after her second marriage with Dirck van Reenen. There is an etching on a drinking-glass, dated 1656, after this picture, with some variations ; the mounted man wears a plumed cap, and another horseman is about to throw the spear. Sale. L. L. van Reenen, The Hague, June 7, 1820, No. 2 (4000 florins, Hulswit). In the Royal Gallery at Mauritshuis, The Hague ; given in exchange to the Rijksmuseum in 1825. In the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1910 catalogue, No. 1910. 161. STARTING FOR THE CHASE IN THE WOOD AT THE HAGUE. Sm. 31 ; W. 102. Along an avenue of trees in full leaf a coach drawn by six greys, with a courier in front, passes in the left middle distance. In the left foreground a mounted groom leads a saddle- horse. Farther back a man on a grey horse rides out of the wood. In the middle distance, surrounded by the pack of hounds, are two falconers with hawks j one of them carries a number of birds on a hoop. The hounds in front bark at some cows which a herdsman drives past from the right. In the left foreground, near the weather-worn stem of a lofty old oak, is a single hound. Through the trees are seen meadows ; in the distance on either side are woods. The picture was formerly entitled, "The Prince of Orange going to the Hunt near the Huis ten Bosch " ; this was absurd, because, in the first place, in 1652 the Prince of Orange was only eighteen months old, and in the second place there was as yet no Huis ten Bosch. The foliage is a very light green, and the treatment of the leaves is extremely careful. However, the green colour has altered a little in the course of time. Signed in full on the left at foot, and dated 1652 ; canvas, 24 inches by 30 inches. Engraved by Dankerts in the Choiseul Gallery. An old copy, on a smaller scale, in the Dresden Gallery, 1908 catalogue, No. 1631, is mentioned as genuine by Westrheene (W. 76). Sales. (Very probably) Ewout van Dishoek, The Hague, June 9, 1745 (Hoet, ii. 169), No. 12 (670 florins). Amsterdam, November 6, 1749 (Hoet, ii. 276), No. 5 (600 florins). Due de Choiseul, Paris, 1772 (27,400 francs) see Ch. Blanc, i. 196. Prince de Conti, Paris, April 8, 1777 (19,000 francs, Langlier) see Ch. Blanc, i. 381. VOL. IV 2 U