A landscape of a castle on a lake painted by Flemish Old Master Abel Grimmer (ca. 1570-1618/19) has been rediscovered in a private collection by auctioneers Woolley and Wallis. Landscape with Peasants Near a Lakeside Castle, an oil on canvas painting, has been in the present owners’ family since 1935 when it was purchased from a Brussels gallery, but they did not know who made it. They only found out that it was a rare genuine work by Abel Grimmer when they sent photos of the painting to the auction house for appraisal.

Initially working from a photograph image, paintings specialist Victor Fauvelle explained;

“Genuine works by Abel Grimmer are rare and often turn out to be copies. On first look at the photos, the composition seemed to be very typical of Abel Grimmer, but we were not hopeful that it was genuine, as works by him are very rare. In order to research it further we went to The National Art Library in the V&A in London to go through the catalogue raisonné of Abel Grimmer and his father, Jacob Grimmer (1526-1590) (who was also an artist), which was published in 1991.”

To delight of the department, the picture in question was described in detail in the catalogue raisonné and fitted the description perfectly. When the clients brought the picture in, Victor could tell immediately that it was a period work from the paint surface, which had the ‘unmistakable luminescence’ of this great period of Flemish late Renaissance painting.

Abel Grimmer was the son of landscape artist Jacob Grimmer. Art historian Giorgio Vasari considered Jacob one of the greatest landscape painters of his time. Jacob was also known for making inexpensive copies of works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and his son was also strongly influenced by Bruegel. Brueghel’s The Harvesters, a series of six panels depicting people working the fields in different seasons, inspired the naturalism of the landscape and realistic poses of the people in Abel Grimmer’s landscapes.

Abel’s landscapes often depicted peasants engaged in work or leisure activities in the Flemish countryside, and the newly-rediscovered work is a fine example of his style.

Abel Grimmer was an important figure in the development of Flemish landscape painting. His atmospheric work cleverly combined detailed natural elements, often in rural settings, with an emphasis on seasonal changes, which was truly innovative for his time. A keen comprehension of light and colour gives the painting a sense of realism and depth. Abel Grimmer’s fresh approach to landscape compositions marked a transition from the Medieval, more symbolic depictions of nature, to a more observational and naturalistic approach.

The work goes under the hammer at Woolley and Wallis’ Old Masters, British & European Paintings sale on March 5th with a pre-sale estimate of £15,000-£20,000 ($19,000-$25,000).