David Teniers II (Antwerp 1610 – 1690 Brussels)

Two Pilgrims

Graphite, countermark PG, 163 x 126 mm (6.4 x 5 inch)

Inscribed ‘D. teniers’ in an 18th- or 19th-century hand (lower right)

Provenance
~ Antoine-François, Count Andréossy (1761–1828); French general and diplomat;
~ His sale, Paris, Perignon-Gendron, 11 March 1816, lot 154: ‘TENIERS. Deux pélerins: au crayon sur papier blanc, dessin arrété.’
~ Anonymous sale, Christie’s, Amsterdam, 14 November 1988, lot 26, repr.
~ Private collection, Paris

Exhibitions
Dessins anciens des Ecoles du Nord, Paris, Michel Segoura, 1989

***

David Teniers was the most famous 17th-century painter of peasant life. He enjoyed international popularity in his own lifetime and during the 18th century, especially in France. Teniers's success was marked by the acquisition of a country house in 1662 and by the grant in 1680 of a patent of nobility. His work was imitated by many followers, including his son, David Teniers III.

Teniers was born in Antwerp and probably trained by his father, David Teniers the Elder. The work of Adriaen Brouwer was an important influence. Teniers produced a more refined version of Brouwer's peasant scenes, and later created scenes of fashionable life. His work was also influenced by his father-in-law, Jan Brueghel.

This powerful and masterly drawn sheet depicts two pilgrims, who Teniers may have encountered in the streets of Antwerp of Brussels. The broad and assured handling is typical of the artist and can be compared to sheets in Berlin¹ and Stockholm.²

The drawing was used as a study for a painted composition which is currently known from two studio versions: one sold in Paris in 1959,³ the other sold in London in 2001 (fig.).⁴

In the early 19th century the present sheet was owned by the French general Count Andréossy, who commanded the bridging train of Napoleon’s army in Italy in 1796, and also commanded the French flotilla on the Nile in the following year. It was sold from Andréossy’s collection in 1816.

SOLD

1. Study of a kitchenmaid and two studies of a man, graphite, 228 x 268 mm; Berlin, Staatliche Museen, see E. Bock and J. Rosenberg, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: die niederländischen Meister : beschreibendes Verzeichnis sämtlicher Zeichnungen mit 220 Lichtdrucktafeln, Berlin 1930, no. 12025, repr.
2. Hunters and dogs, graphite, 200 x 322 mm; Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, inv. No. NMH 2121/1863; see exh. cat. Dutch and Flemish Drawings, Stockholm 1953, no. 191, repr.
3. Georges Giroux, Paris, 18-20 June 1959, lot 807.
4. Oil on canvas, 38.3 x 32.5 cm; Sotheby’s, London, 26 April 2001, lot 65.