Pieter Molyn, 
Dutch 1595-1661- 
A Village street with two figures; 
black chalk and watercolour...

Pieter Molyn, 
Dutch 1595-1661- 

A Village street with two figures; 

black chalk and watercolour on paper laid down on card, indistinctly inscribed in black chalk 'buyten' [outside]… (upper right), bears inscription in black ink 'Molyn' (lower right), stamped with Dr C.R. Rudolf's collector's stamp (Lugt 2811b) (on the mount lower right), 16 x 20.5 cm., (unframed). 

Provenance: 
A. Ritter von Franck, Graz; sale, Frankfurt, Prestel, 4-5 December 1889, lot 143 (the inscription reads as Buytenswol). 
L.H. Storck, Bremen; sale, Berlin, Amsler, 25-28 June 1894, lot 399. 
R.P. Goldschmidt, Berlin; sale, Frankfurt, Prestel, 4-5-October 1917, lot 375 (120 marks to Ziegert). 
Dr E. Czeczowiczka, Vienna; sale, Berlin, C.G. Boerner / Paul Graupe, 12 May 1930, lot 106 (250 marks). 
Anon. sale, Lucerne, Gilh. & Ranschb., 28 June 1934, lot 178. 
Henry Oppenheimer; sale, Christie's, London, 10-14 July 1936, lot 272(B). 
Dr C.R. Rudolf (L.2811b); sale, Sotheby's, London, 14 December 1992, lot 193. 
with Hill-Stone, USA. 
Private Collection. 

Exhibited: 
London, The Arts Council Gallery, 'Old Master Drawings from the Collection of Mr. C.R. Rudolf', 1962, no.113. 
London, Alfred Brod Gallery, 'Exhibition of Old Master Drawings', 1969, no.113. 

Note: 
Amongst the few surviving early works by Molyn are two landscapes in watercolour in Berlin (one dated 1629), and a panoramic landscape dated 1630 at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam [RP-T-1948-405], in which dense, strong watercolour has been applied over a black chalk sketch in a similar manner to the present drawing (See Marijn Schapelhouman and Peter Schatborn, 'Land & Water, Dutch Drawings from the 17th Century in the Rijksmusuem Print Room', Amsterdam, 1987, pp.27-28, illustrated.) These works suggest that Molyn may, like Jan van Goyen (1596-1656), have made extensive use of colour in his works of the 1620s and early 1630s, the period of his career to which this drawing undoubtedly dates. Several of the early sale catalogues (mentioned in the Provenance above) record the presence on the sheet's verso of a counterproof black chalk drawing depicting a path by a fence. In the Sotheby's 1992 sale catalogue entry, thanks is given to Dr Hans Ulrich-Beck for providing early provenance information. 

In this confidently executed and beautifully preserved drawing, the low horizon of the scene affords particular prominence to the sky, creating a sense of a vast expanse despite, in fact, being a village environment, something of a departure from the more open landscapes which the artist returned to with greater frequency. Indeed, Molyn here manages to minimise the human presence, reducing the figures to a tiny scale, and instead drawing the viewer's attention to the green foliage, imbued with a sense of movement from its rapid and fluid execution. A great number of Dutch landscape drawings of this time were made within framing lines and broad margins, as finished works for sale, but these margins, unlike in the present work, have almost always been trimmed off at some point in the intervening centuries.