Lot 143 | Barend Cornelis Koekkoek | Thunderstorms on the Rhine

KOEKKOEK, BAREND CORNELIS
1803 Middelburg - 1862 Kleve

Title: Thunderstorms on the Rhine.
Idealised view of the Siebengebirge with the Drachenfels in sunlight.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Mounting: Relined.
Measurement: 40 x 53cm.
Notation: Signed and dated lower right: B.C. Koekkoek ft. 1849.
Frame: Framed.

Verso:
Koekkoek's handwritten artist's label on the stretcher, dated 1849, and the artist's wax seal;
Exhibition label Städtisches Museum Haus Koekkoek, Kleve 1962;
Wax seal BK.

Exhibitions:
Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn: Rheinische Landschaften und Städtebilder 1600-1850, 1960/61, no. 58, fig. 49;
Städtisches Museum Haus Koekkoek, Kleve 1962, no. 62.

Literature:
F. Gorissen: B.C. Koekkoek, 1803-1862. Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde, Düsseldorf 1962, no. 49/40.

Provenance:
Collection Werner, Baden-Baden;
Collection Körber, Brunswick;
Lempertz, Cologne 25/27.6.1987 Lot 326;
Private ownership, Germany.

Barend Cornelis, the eldest and probably the most successful of the four sons of the painter Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek, painted the present Rhine landscape in Kleve in 1849. The play with light in his landscape paintings is captivating, and he mastered it like no other. The effect that the main representative of Dutch Romanticism achieved through the targeted use of light and shadow effects charmed already his contemporaries. The present painting is one of the finest works by the artist. It depicts a deep and sweeping view of the stormy Rhine landscape, which is also representative of the artist's topographical interest. Viewed from an elevated vantage point, the Siebengebirge with its popular excursion destination, the Drachenfels, can be seen on the other side of the river. An approaching thunderstorm darkens the sky; the last rays of sunlight fall on the opposite bank while the tree in the foreground is caught by the strong wind. Dust rises and a couple laboriously walks along the castle against the wind. The composition is incomparable, clearly inspired by the reality of an existing place and romanticising nature.

We are grateful to Guido de Werd, Cologne, for confirming the authenticity of the present work after examination in the original.