Half-timbered and thatched buildings are depicted, suggestive of a village, with a bridge over a frozen river and with figures, working animals and a flock of birds in the sky, in a square dark wood frame, diameter 13.7cm.
Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (1562-1635), the son of a Flemish painter and print maker, became the most distinguished and most popular portraitist at Elizabeth I’s court in the 1590s.
He painted many portraits, but landscapes by him are extremely rare and this is thought to be one of only three ever painted by him.
It appears in the 1690 Devonshire Schedule or Deed of Gift, which records an immense bequest from Elizabeth, Countess of Devonshire (1619-1689) to her daughter Anne, Countess of Exeter (1649-1703).
This lists: ..’a group of small square landscapes’ and ‘one Larger Round Landskipp.’ See Min 0033 & MIN0034.
