A Boy Loading an Ass in an Italian Village Street c.1660-65
Oil on panel | 22.2 x 25.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 404616
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Born in Amsterdam, du Jardin is thought to have studied with Nicolaes Berchem and, although there is no documentation to prove it, he probably first went to Rome during the late 1640s. In 1650 he was in Paris but returned to Amsterdam in 1652 where he settled for a while, although he spent a few years from 1655 to 1658 in The Hague. In 1675 he returned to Italy in the company of Jan Reynst, the son of the famous Dutch merchant and art collector of the same name. Du Jardin’s nickname was Bokkebaert (Goatee-beard).
This tiny panel of the early 1660s has space for one trivial episode – a boy loading heavy faggots onto his donkey – set in front of the distant grandeur of a Italian Romanesque church tower.
Signed on the wall to the right: 'K. DV. JARDIN'Provenance
Purchased by George IV from Sir Thomas Baring as part of a group of 86 Dutch and Flemish paintings, most of which were collected by Sir Thomas’s father, Sir Francis Baring; they arrived at Carlton House on 6 May 1814; recorded in the Bow Room, Ground Floor, at Carlton House in 1816 (no 113) and anti-room to the Dining Room in 1819 (no 89); in the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace in 1841 (no 20)
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Creator(s)
(nationality)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on panel
Measurements
22.2 x 25.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
40.2 x 42.7 x 5.0 cm (frame, external)
Other number(s)