A winter landscape with a forest view SE of Brussels near a pond from the River Maelbeek at sunset, a swineherd in the foreground
Oil on canvas : 76,3 X 95,5 cm
Unsigned
Frame : 112,2 X 94,1 cm
I would like to thank Professor Jan De Maere for his help with the attribution.
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SOLD
In short
Daniel van Heil was a typical Brussels specialist of winter landscapes, often set outside the town, near the Sonian Forest and the current Bois de la Cambre. The pond in the background must belong to the Maelbeek stream. Along its short course the river counted in those days 58 ponds.
About Daniel van Heil
Flemish painter
Brussels circa 1604 – 1662 Brussels
Landscape painter.
Son of Léon I van Heil, whom nothing is known about.
Master in the Brussels Painter’s Guild of Saint Luke in 1627.
He had six pupils between 1643 and 1660, amongst whom his own son, Théodore, who specialised in panoramic landscapes.
Our painter specialised in both warm and cold subjects.
He painted either views of burning towns with magnificently rendered flames (be it contemporary views of Antwerp and Brussels, or mythological and biblical subjects set in Troy or Sodom and Gomorrah) or winter landscapes.
Occasionally he also painted Italianate landscapes with ruins.
Although the differences between both painters are obvious, confusion reigns between Daniel van Heil and the Dutch painter Dirck Verhaert, as both painters occasionally used the same monogram "DVH".
About our painting
Our painting is set outside Brussels, probably to the SE of the town.
This landscape might represent the Maelbeek stream that ran in those days from its source near the Abbey of La Cambre through Brussels, Etterbeek, Ixelles, Saint Josse and Schaerbeek, where it joined the Zenne, Brussels’ most important river.
Typical of the Maelbeek were the large number of ponds along it: originally 58 of which only six have survived: the ponds of the Abbey of La Cambre and the two Ixelles Ponds still remind of our landscape.
Why should you buy this painting?
Because it is a typical 17th century Brussels winter landscape. Our swineherd stands close to similar figures by David Teniers II.