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Provenance:
Private collection, Mons (Belgium)
Notes:
This painting, which can be dated around 1660, shows in the foreground a figure dressed in red who is keeping an eye on his cattle whilst his dog disregards it. A woman, wearing a blue apron and holding a jug probably filled with water, is standing next to him. Beyond these figures two men, one of which on horseback, follow a steep path. The steep rise is accentuated, on the left, by a tree which towers over the scene and a hill culminating towards a slightly dilapidated building with a round tower, below which are the cattle and more figures. The river drives the watcher's eye away into a broad scene, where a mountain extends and a city can be found out there.
Unfortunately the location in the present work cannot be identified. During the 1640s and 1650s Teniers painted fantasy landscape as well as real ones. Teniers' landscapes were not expected to be geologically precise. He sketched extensively in the countryside before working in his studio. Certain subjects, as peasant life, reoccur throughout his career.
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