David II TENIERS [the younger] (1610-1690), Landscape in a forest with a river

oil, duplicated canvas; 50.5 x 78.5 cm;
On the reverse a damaged sticker: No. 86, Gallerie de S.A.R. la duchesse de Berry / David Teniers le J.;
label on frame: Manfrin.
Attribution of the painting confirmed in the 1995 opinion of Dr. Didier Bodart (archaeologist, art historian, Rome). [A translation of the opinion into Polish is attached to the painting].

Provenance:
- Before 1886 it was in the collection of the Duchesse de Berry at the Manfrin Palace (see information on the back of the painting),
- then went to a private collection in Poland,
- after 1945 acquired by the Art Museum in Lodz - Gallery of Foreign Painting,
- returned to its owners after 1989.

According to Didier Bodart (author of the expert report), the painting is an authentic work by David Teniers II the Younger.
"A similar example is "River Landscape with Shepherds" (London, Wellington Museum, Apsley House), a work of practically the same format, with the same characteristic elements, in the relationship between the plans and between the figures and the landscape, with the same poetic sensitivity to nature.
The painting in question came from Spanish royal collections. It was exported as war booty after the Battle of Vittoria in 1813, and it is worth noting that both landscapes originated in collections from southern countries. Indeed, the interest in and response to 17th century Flemish painting had the same force in Italy as in Spain. The "dark light" effect, particularly well rendered in both works, the silvery tree trunks, the setting of the plans seduced viewers more accustomed to the way nature was depicted by Titian and his school on the one hand, Poussin and Claude Lorrain
on the other.
This view of nature is not an isolated case in Teniers' oeuvre: it is exemplified in "shepherd" paintings such as "The Dreaming Shepherd" and "The Satisfied Shepherd" (Wanas, Sweden, collection of Count Carl-Alexander Wachtmeister) or "The Shepherd Playing the Flute" (Denmark, private collection
private)."
[excerpts from an opinion piece by Dr. Didier Bodart].