Ludolf de Jongh (Dutch, 1616-1679), Diana & her companions resting after the chase

Ludolf de Jongh (Dutch, 1616-1679) Diana & her companions resting after the chase 1644 Oil on parqueted panel Remnants of a signature & dated lower middle 'L.../1644' Provenance: Lackmann collection, Frankfurt-am-Mainz; Stefan Carl Michiel Mainz; His sale, Lepke Berlin, 27 February 1917, lot 44, ill.; Lempertz, Cologne, 18 May 1996, lot 1078; Christie's, Kings St., 9 November 1998, lot 113 (sold for £55,354); Private collection, U.S.A. Literature: W. von Bode, 'Die Ausstellungen alter Gemälde ... in Dusseldorf und Brussel 1886', in Repertorium fr Kunstwissenschaft, vol. X, 1887 pp. 33/4; C. Hofstede de Groot, "Zu Kritik einiger holländischer Bilder", in Repertorium fr Kunstwissenschaft, vol. XXVII, 1904, pp. 574/5; W. Bernt, The Netherlandish Painters of the Seventeenth Century, London (1969), vol. II, fig. 596; R. E. Fleischer, Ludolf de Jonghe, Amsterdam (1989), p. 41, fig 31 Exhibited: Dusseldorf, 1886, n0186 as P. de Koninck Mainz, Landesmuseum, "Gemälden aus Privatbesitz", n0119 Dusseldorf, 1904, n0334 From the Christie's 1998 catalogue: "The present picture, painted shortly after his return from France in 1643/4, is the earliest known landscape by the artist. The influence of Cornelis Vroom's Waterfall of 1638, formerly with S. Nystad, The Hague (G. Keyes, Cornelis Vroom: Marine and Landscape Artist, 1975, n0P21, fig. 47) is apparent. As pointed out by Keyes, op. cit. p. 184, this picture is representative of Vroom's much admired decoration of the reception hall at Honselaersdijck, painted for Prince Frederik Hendrik in the late 1630s. These works are now lost, they must have depicted mythological subjects in landscape settings. By adopting Vroom's style, and thus the courtly taste, the present picture indicates De Jonghe's ambitions." Dimensions: (Frame) 37 ibn. (H) x 50 in. (W)  (Panel) 29.5 in. (|H) x 42 in. (W)