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Lot Essay
The bridge on the river Yserdon at Francheville, just west of Lyon, proved a remarkably popular subject for Dutch and Flemish artists travelling to or from Italy in the 17th Century. Dating from the 16th Century, it was overhung by a group of Italianate houses and the ruins of an old castle on a rocky outcrop, and its southern flavour seems to have exerted a huge appeal. Stijn Alsteens and Hans Buijs (op. cit.) note that Waterloo probably did not execute the present drawing from life, as the river Yserdon is much smaller in reality than it appears here. They also discuss other depictions of the bridge made by 17th Century Dutch artists, reproducing two paintings by Karel Dujardin and Adam Pynacker (op. cit., p. 203, fig. V and p. 286, fig. C) and ten drawings, including the present work. Studies are illustrated by Abraham Begeyn (1637-1697), Frederik de Moucheron (1633-1686), Anthonie Waterloo (1609-1690), and Jan Wils (1603-1666), as well as by an anonymous artist (Alsteens and Buijs, op. cit., p. 201 fig. O, p. 202 figs. Q and R, p. 203, fig. T, p. 280, no. 82, p. 281, no. 83, p. 286, fig. D, p. 338, no. 107 and p. 339, fig. A). Further to this impressive list, a painting of the bridge by Herman van Swanevelt is in Dulwich Picture Gallery, while another study by Asselijn is in the National Museum of Art, Bucharest, and a drawing attributed to Wils is in Grenoble (La pointe et l’ombre: Dessins nordiques du musée de Grenoble XVIe-XVIIIe siècle, exhib. cat., Grenoble, 2014, no. 63). To conclude, another study of the bridge attributed to Waterloo, taken from further along the river, was with Galerie Gerda Bassenge, Berlin, 3 June 1994, lot 5451.
The present drawing is notable for the fact that the upper right quadrant is on an added sheet of paper, which has been carefully trimmed so as to silhouette the top rim of the bridge, following the line of the cliff and houses up to the top of the sheet. Examination with transmitted light reveals that there was damage to the sky, perhaps a wash spillage, and it was probably Waterloo himself who restored the drawing’s integrity by covering the stain with a fresh sheet of paper. The figures crossing the bridge are on the new sheet, although they replicate figures who appear on the original sheet below – except the third donkey on the bridge, which was not copied onto the cover sheet and is now only visible with transmitted light. The small figures were at one point thought to be by Asselijn, making the present drawing a collaboration between the two artists, but there is no reason to believe that they are not by Waterloo himself. He may have been inspired by the presence of similar staffage in Asselijn’s drawings, as he did not often use such small figures in his own works, but stylistically and technically they appear to be by the same hand as the rest of the drawing.
The present drawing is notable for the fact that the upper right quadrant is on an added sheet of paper, which has been carefully trimmed so as to silhouette the top rim of the bridge, following the line of the cliff and houses up to the top of the sheet. Examination with transmitted light reveals that there was damage to the sky, perhaps a wash spillage, and it was probably Waterloo himself who restored the drawing’s integrity by covering the stain with a fresh sheet of paper. The figures crossing the bridge are on the new sheet, although they replicate figures who appear on the original sheet below – except the third donkey on the bridge, which was not copied onto the cover sheet and is now only visible with transmitted light. The small figures were at one point thought to be by Asselijn, making the present drawing a collaboration between the two artists, but there is no reason to believe that they are not by Waterloo himself. He may have been inspired by the presence of similar staffage in Asselijn’s drawings, as he did not often use such small figures in his own works, but stylistically and technically they appear to be by the same hand as the rest of the drawing.