219. Gijsbrecht Leytens (Antwerp 1586-1656) Winter landscape with fishermen and hunters on the outskirts of a village, and children playing on a frozen river oil on panel oil on panel 63.8 x 104.4cm (25 1/8 x 41 1/8in). Provenance Sale H.W. Lange, Berlin, 12 May 1942, lot 209 (as the property of W.L, Berlin, as Pieter Stevens II) Sale, Christie's Amsterdam, 16 November 2006, lot 52 (€381,600) With De Jonckheere, 2007, where purchased by the present owner in 2007 Private Collection, Spain Exhaustive research has failed to yield any record of this painting other than as stated in the provenance. It does not appear on any list of missing works sought for restitution, nor to the best of our knowledge could it be confused with any such work. Literature E. Greindl, 'Contribution à la connaissance du style de Gysbrecht Leytens', Pantheon, XXXI, 1973, p. 262, n. 12 Previously known as the Master of Winter Landscapes, Gijsbrecht Leytens was identified thanks to the appearance of a monogrammed work in a private Dutch collection in 1988. Baptised in April on 1586, Leytens entered the workshop of the Antwerp artist Jacques Vrolijck (active 1549-1582) at the early age of twelve. He became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1611, and went on to establish a large workshop which collaborated with numerous artists such as Frans Francken II (1581-1642), Sebastiaen Vrancx (1573-1647) and Vincent Malo (1629-1668) amongst others, who would paint the figures in some of his compositions. It was Gijsbrecht Leytens' resolutely personal style that brought him attention and led him to be considered great exponents of the winter landscape. No artist before him, nor after him, either in Flanders or elsewhere, expressed with such intensity the crisp, lace-like quality of a wooded landscape caught in the frost. His unique appeal lay in the delicate and highly refined colour harmonies seen throughout is paintings. Entirely typical and on a relatively large scale for the artist, the present painting includes many elements found in other works by Leytens such as the central, dominating tree heavy with snow, the avenue of trees to the right, and the snow covered cottages to the far right.