Adrien Frans Boudewyns and Pieter Bout

ADRIEN FRANS BOUDEWYNS (Brussels,1644-1711) and PIETER BOUT (Brussels, ca. 1658-1719).
"Landscape with a village in Italy and a market scene".
Oil on canvas.
Provenance: London sale, Christie's, 21 October 1994, no. 136; Paris sale, Drouot Montaigne, Kohn studio, 12 June 1996, no. 27.
Measurements: 33 x 42 cm.

This work is an example of the artistic collaboration between Adrien Frans Boudewyns (Brussels, 1644-1711) and Pieter Bout (Brussels, ca. 1658-1719), two Flemish masters who, as was common at the time, used to unite complementary talents to enrich their compositions. This collaborative practice, widespread in the Netherlands during the 17th and 18th centuries, allowed painters specialized in different genres, such as landscape and the human figure, to work together on the same canvas, achieving a visual harmony that transcended individual skill.
In this work, Boudewyns' hand is clearly perceived in the articulation of the landscape, executed with a meticulousness that refers both to the classical ideal and to the Flemish sensibility for atmosphere and naturalistic detail. The Italianate architectures, the broad masses of trees and the dynamic sky, animated by moving clouds and birds in flight, recall the influence of the Roman landscape painting of the circle of Gaspard Dughet and Claude Lorrain, whose echoes were much appreciated in Flanders at the time. The arrangement of the built elements, with towers, red-tiled roofs and Renaissance-inspired structures, underlines the interest in evoking an idealized Italy, typical of the classicist landscape.
Pieter Bout, on the other hand, has skillfully animated the scene by means of a group of human figures carefully arranged throughout the composition. In the foreground we observe a lively market scene, with merchants, shoppers, pack animals and children lending vitality to the scene. The figures, although small in scale, are modeled with precision and expressiveness, and present a variety of attitudes that contribute to the visual narrative of the painting. Their clothing and attitudes denote an interest in capturing everyday life, a very characteristic tendency of Flemish Baroque that combines the picturesque with the realistic.
The scene, although set in an imagined Italy, does not respond to a specific topography, but rather to an ideal construction where the golden light, the changing sky and human interaction form a harmonious and evocative space.