Jacques FOUQUIERES (Antwerp, 1591 - Paris, 1659 ) Travellers on a Road in a Landscape Oil on oak panel, one plate Signed and dated '.J. FOUQUIER 1617.' lower centre (signature enhanced) Red wax stamp on reverse Travelers on a path in a landscape, oil on oak panel, signed and dated, by J. Fouquieres 12.99 x 17.12 in. 33.0 x 43.5 cm Provenance: Eugène Slatter, London, 1958 ; Private collection, Belgium Exhibitions: Exhibition of Dutch and Flemish masters, London, Eugene Slatter Gallery, 6 May - 12 July 1958, n° 15 Bibliography: Walther Bernt, The Netherlandish Painters of the Seventeenth Century, vol I, London, 1970, plate 385 This rare signed landscape is dated 1617, the period during which Jacques Fouquières was staying in Heidelberg. Here we have an example of a great mastery of the genre, still very much influenced by the strong personality of Paul Bril. Three colours - brown, green and then blue - correspond to the three planes that open onto a mountainous perspective that can be followed as a river flows through the forest. On the tree in the centre, a favourite motif of the artist's, the colours of autumn slowly take over the leaves, heralding the onset of winter. Cradled by the wind, its branches seem to move with the changing sky, against the backdrop of a whirling bird. The whole piece exudes vitality, offering the eye the spectacle of a nature that is as realistic as it is poetic, revealing its charm with mystery. Originally from Antwerp, Jacques Fouquières was trained by Joos de Momper, the Brueghels and perhaps even Pierre-Paul Rubens1. Established in Paris in 1621, he is best known for having produced a series of views of French cities intended to fill the windows between the windows of the Louvre's Galerie du Bord de l'Eau, since renamed the Grande Galerie. This royal commission led him to meet Nicolas Poussin, who was responsible for the general layout of the project, which never really saw the light of day. Described in his correspondence, their collaboration left the King's First Painter with only bad memories2. As for the views of the kingdom, they were taken to the Tuileries, where they were destroyed by fire in 1873. Naturalised and then ennobled, Jacques Fouquières enjoyed great success in France, where the import of the Flemish style was an opportunity for a welcome renewal in a genre that at the time had a few shortcomings. We should therefore salute this Nordic embassy in Paris, which gave landscape painting its finest expression under the reign of Louis XIII. 1- Pierre-Jean MARIETTE, Abecedario de P.,J. Mariette et autres notes inédites de cet amateur sur les arts et les artistes, Archives de l'Art français IV, Paris, 1853-1854 2- Yvonne THIERY, Les peintres flamands de paysage au XVIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, vol. 1, pp. 119-123 3- Laurence Quinchon-Adam, "Quelques aspects nouveaux de l'œuvre de Jacques Fouquières", Artium historia, Louvain, 2001, pp. 293-315. Jacques FOUQUIERES (Antwerp, 1591 - Paris, 1659 ) 33.0 x 43.5 cm This rare signed landscape is dated 1617, the period during which Jacques Fouquières stayed in Heidelberg. Here we have an example of a great mastery of the genre, still very much influenced by the strong personality of Paul Bril. Three colours - brown, green and then blue - correspond to the three planes that open onto a mountainous perspective that can be followed as a river flows through the forest. On the tree in the centre, a favourite motif of the artist's, the colours of autumn slowly take over the leaves, heralding the onset of winter. Cradled by the wind, its branches seem to move with the changing sky, against the backdrop of a whirling bird. A strong vitality emanates from the whole, offering the eye the spectacle of a nature as realistic as it is poetic, whose charm is revealed with mystery. Originally from Antwerp, Jacques Fouquières was trained by Joos de Momper, the Brueghels and perhaps even Pierre-Paul Rubens1. Established in Paris in 1621, he is best known for having produced a series of views of French cities intended to fill the windows between the windows of the Louvre's Galerie du Bord de l'Eau, since renamed the Grande Galerie. This royal commission led him to meet Nicolas Poussin, who was responsible for the general layout of the project, which never really saw the light of day. Described in his correspondence, their collaboration left the King's First Painter with only bad memories2. As for the views of the kingdom, they were taken to the Tuileries, where they were destroyed by fire in 1873. Naturalised and then ennobled, Jacques Fouquières enjoyed great success in France, where the import of the Flemish style was an opportunity for a welcome renewal in a genre that at the time had a few shortcomings. We should therefore salute this Nordic embassy in Paris, which gave landscape painting its finest expression under the reign of Louis XIII. 1- Pierre-Jean MARIETTE, Abecedario de P.,J. Mariette et autres notes inédites de cet amateur sur les arts et les artistes, Archives de l'Art français IV, Paris, 1853-1854 2- Yvonne THIERY, Les peintres flamands de paysage au XVIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, vol. 1, pp. 119-123 3- Laurence Quinchon-Adam, "Quelques aspects nouveaux de l'œuvre de Jacques Fouquières", Artium historia, Louvain, 2001, pp. 293-315.