Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 90-91.(Budapest, 1999)

EMBER, ILDIKÓ: Some Minor Masters on the Peripheries of Rembrandt's Circle

dominant dement of the composition, and the smallish figures are merely Staffage. Therefore the Budapest collection's panel, signed with the initials WDP, may prove to be a solid point of reference in the future reconstruction of this portion of his oeuvre (fig. 76). At the time of its acquisition, Agnes Czobor assigned this seemingly insignificant piece to the Utrecht School, doubting the authenticity of the monogram.

44 But the signature is without doubt original, and a closer examination of certain details and the manner of rendering leads to recognition of Willem de Poorter

's style.

4:) The contrast between the darkness in the cave filled with statues and monuments of antiquity and the sunlit panorama outside is achieved by a uniform brown tonality reigning over the entire surface of the picture, in which the pale green and golden yellow gleam of the distant areas "dissolve" hannoniously. The gentle alternation of light and dark areas provides an effective means of indicating spatial depth and places a subtle emphasis on the lively group slightly right of center. The paint is applied in thin layers in a fluid, elegant manner that is diametrically opposed to the porcelain-like glitter of the Utrecht School and is also a far cry from the striking impasto surfaces of Rembrandt's Leiden period. Such a technique was employed by the landscape painters of Haarlem, and it appears in landscapes by Rembrandt and Govaert Flinck after 1637.

46 The graceful and delicate touch of the floral details also resembles the work of the latter artists. The motifs of the landscape opening to the right evoke the Italianate landscapes of the preRembrandtists. That other works by De Poorter must have come close to these qualities is most eloquently proved by a drawing attributed to him by Sumowski, with The Stoning of St. Stephen in the foreground,

47 which shows a kinship to the compositions of Lastman and Elsheimer. The closest analogue to our painting was an unsigned piece auctioned in London twice during the 1920s as the work of Willem de Poorter (fig. 77) 48 It shows the cave from a nearly identical viewpoint; the diagonal extends a bit farther on the left and on the right the view is somewhat shortened, so that the monument receives greater emphasis, although the live figures are absent. In the Budapest painting the small scale of the two figures in relation to the pictorial field seems to be unusual. In this it follows the Poelenburghian model, but the shaping 44 Oil on oak panel, 60.4 x 84.2 cm. (The inlaid panel has been slightly reduced along the upper edge.) Inv. No. 60.13, purchase from László Barabás, Budapest 1960. - Czobor, A., Recherches faites dans le fonds hollandais et flamands de la Galerie des Maîtres Anciens, BullMusHongBA 23 (1963) pp. 53-58, 138-140. - This opinion was adopted by Andor Pigler as well: Kat. 1967, pp. 173-174. 45 Margit Forgó carried out a technical analysis of the picture in 1997, and in the course of the examination we recognized the qualities linking the piece to the circle of Rembrandt. I thank her for her help. 46 See Foucart, J., Peintures Rembranesque au Louvre. Les dossiers du département des peintures. Paris 1988, pp. 58-62. 47 Amsterdam, Christie's, 10.12.1986, No. 52. Black chalk, ink and brown ink, wash, body color, 398 x 624 mm, paper mounted on linen, along with its companion piece. 48 Interior of a Cavern with Funerary Monuments, panel 51.2 x 64 cm, London, Sotheby's, 2930.05.1923, No. 158, and London, Puttick and Simpson Galleries, 12.03.1924, No. 87. - I am grateful to the Frick Art Reference Library (New York) for providing the photo.