Roelandt Savery

Savery, Roeland
Savery, Roelant

Dutch, 1576 - 1639

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Livestock, woodland animals, and about a dozen people cluster in groups throughout a densely wooded landscape with rocky outcroppings and the ruins of a round structure in this horizontal painting. The people all appear to have light skin. A narrow river curves from near the lower left corner of the composition back around a grove of trees on a spit of land. One white, long-necked bird stands near a rock on the riverbank, and a second bird, shown in flight low over the water, clutches a short snake in its beak. Three deer stand in the deeply shadowed trees, and two goats perch on the rocky cliffs that rise steeply beyond the deer. Across the composition, in the lower right corner, a man wearing a gray jacket and high boots, red pants, and a floppy, wide-brimmed, gray hat stands with a long staff propped on one shoulder. He has ruddy complexion and a bulbous nose. He is surrounded by seven brown, gray, tan, and black cows and three pale gray goats. He and his livestock are backed by a screen of tall, leafy trees. The spaces around the cowherd and the deer to the left are shadowed to create a dark U across the bottom of the landscape, so the sunlit scene beyond is notably lighter in comparison. Just above the center of the composition, plants and trees grow on and among the ruins of the gray, round tower. Two arched openings extending to our left also crumble and are largely taken over with plants. At the base of the tower, water pours from a spigot into a rectangular, presumably stone trough. Three cows drink from the trough while more cows and a herd of about a dozen sheep stand and lie nearby. Several men sit, stand, or kneel near the cows around the trough. Painted loosely with pale gray and tan, several people pass under the archway closest to the tower. One person rides a donkey there. Close by, two elegantly dressed men wearing hats, perhaps turbans, stand and gesture with one arm raised. One man wears a charcoal-gray cloak over a red tunic and pants, and the other wears a forest-green cloak over yellow clothing. Another donkey and at least two smaller animals, perhaps dogs, stand near the men and the second archway, to our left. A grassy hill rises sharply behind the archways to the edge of a dense forest, where the camels, birds, perhaps peacocks, and other men stand. Along the right edge of the painting, beyond the cowherd and cows, the land dips into a wooded valley, painted in tones of pale aquamarine and ice blue. About two dozen birds of varying sizes fly over the tower and valley. White clouds float against the vibrant blue sky. The artist signed and dated the work as if written on the face of the rock near the white birds, “ROELANT SAVERŸ FE 1624.”
Roelandt Savery, Landscape with the Flight into Egypt, 1624, oil on panel, Gift of Robert H. and Clarice Smith, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1989.22.1

Landscape with the Flight into Egypt

Roelandt Savery · 1624 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1989.22.1

Roelandt Savery, Mountainous Landscape with Castles and Waterfalls, c. 1606, black, ocher, red, and blue chalks, with traces of white heightening on gray-green laid paper, Woodner Collection, Gift of Dian Woodner, 2011.42.2

Mountainous Landscape with Castles and Waterfalls

Roelandt Savery · c. 1606 · black, ocher, red, and blue chalks, with traces of white heightening on gray-green laid paper ·  Accession ID  2011.42.2

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Mountainous Landscape with Lovers

Roelandt Savery · · etching ·  Accession ID  1964.8.1531

Magdalena van de Passe, Crispijn van de Passe I, Landscape with Elijah Perching on a Rocky Outcrop in the Distance, 1620s, engraving on laid paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2023.103.1

Landscape with Elijah Perching on a Rocky Outcrop in the Distance

Magdalena van de Passe, Crispijn van de Passe I · 1620s · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2023.103.1

Magdalena van de Passe, Crispijn van de Passe I, Landscape with Mountains, a River, and Elijah and the Raven, 1620s, engraving on laid paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2023.103.2

Landscape with Mountains, a River, and Elijah and the Raven

Magdalena van de Passe, Crispijn van de Passe I · 1620s · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2023.103.2

Aegidius Sadeler II, Woodland Scene with Two Hunters and a Dog to the Left, probably c. 1609, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7623

Woodland Scene with Two Hunters and a Dog to the Left

Aegidius Sadeler II · probably c. 1609 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7623

Aegidius Sadeler II, Landscape with an Inn to the Right and House on Rocks to the Left, probably c. 1609, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7622

Landscape with an Inn to the Right and House on Rocks to the Left

Aegidius Sadeler II · probably c. 1609 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7622

Aegidius Sadeler II, Three Hunters and Two Dogs near a Pool, 1609, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7621

Three Hunters and Two Dogs near a Pool

Aegidius Sadeler II · 1609 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7621

Aegidius Sadeler II, Woodland Scene with a Waterfall, probably c. 1609, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7620

Woodland Scene with a Waterfall

Aegidius Sadeler II · probably c. 1609 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7620

Aegidius Sadeler II, Draughtsman on a Stone before a Bridge, probably c. 1609, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7619

Draughtsman on a Stone before a Bridge

Aegidius Sadeler II · probably c. 1609 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7619

Bibliography

1753

  • Houbraken, Arnold. De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen. 3 vols. in 1. The Hague, 1753 (Reprint: Amsterdam, 1976): 1:56-60.

1908

  • Erasmus, Kurt Karl Wilhelm. Roelandt Savery, sein Leben und seine Werke. Halle, 1908.

1958

  • Bialostocki, Jan. "Les bêtes et les humains chez Roelandt Savery." Bulletin des Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique 7 (1958): 69-92.

1979

  • Spicer, Joaneath. "The Drawings of Roelant Savery." Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, New Haven, 1979.

1982

  • Segal, Sam. "The Flower Pieces of Roelandt Savery." Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek (1982): 309-337.

  • Segal, Sam. A Flowery Past: A survey of Dutch and Flemish flower painting from 1600 until the present. Exh. cat. Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam; Noordbrabants Museum, 's-Hertogenbosch. Mijdrecht, 1982: 309-337.

1985

  • Mai, Ekkehard. Roelant Savery in Seiner Zeit (1576-1639). Exh. cat. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne; Centraal Museum, Utrecht. Cologne, 1985.

1988

  • Müllenmeister, Kurt J. Roelant Savery: Kortrijk 1576–1639 Utrecht, Hofmaler Kaiser Rudolf II, in Prag: die Gemälde mit Kritischem Oeuvrekatalog. Freren, 1988.

1991

  • MacLaren, Neil. The Dutch School, 1600-1900. Revised and expanded by Christopher Brown. 2 vols. National Gallery Catalogues. London, 1991: 1:411-412.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 359-360.