[Winter landscape with figures by a river]

Title, attribution date, subject, and physical description by Diane de Grazia, 2014.
Former attribution to artist Simon de Vlieger from P&P Bradley collection inventory card.
Inscriptions on verso: lower left in black chalk: "1768/ae-ns"? Lower left corner, black chalk: "No. 52." Lower toward right in black chalk: "575" Askance in black chalk: "DRW-Neth/XVII/V869/A" (former LC call number)
Pencil note on mat attributes drawing to Rotterdam artist, de Vlieger. Also on mat, #100, 20-109, and C3755.
George Lothrop Bradley Collection. (Stamp verso, Lugt suppl. 288b)
Bequest, George Lothrop Bradley, 1919.
This drawing carries an old attribution to Simon de Vlieger (active 1612-1653), but comparisons with his landscape sheets makes the attribution unsustainable. His drawings tend to more finished works of art encompassing views of a broader landscape rather than the more intimate scene depicted here. In addition, de Vlieger's forms are more refined in their morphology and technique. George Keyes (email 1/30/13) suggests an artist closer to Pieter Molyn (1595-1661), but believes the drawing is not by him. Indeed, many of Molyn's sheets depict outdoor scenes that are circumscribed as here. Many also show stylized figures by rivers and bridges in the country. Molyn's figures, however, are a bit more developed with more defined contours and shading than those here. (For comparisons see Hans-Ulrich Beck, Pieter Molyn 1595-1661. Katalog der Handzeichnungen, Doornspijk, 1998, p. 89, no. 123, p. 92, no. 135.). The sheet does seem to reside within Molyn's artistic circle, as suggested by Keyes.
Condition assessment: Light foxing. Sheet framed in brown ink, 2014.
Conserved, 08-82-017.14.