Peasants by a stream in a landscape, a farm and mill beyond.

Drawing, pen and brown ink and grey wash, over traces of pencil, 9,4 x 14,6 cm, laid paper, unsigned (trimmed to the framing line, red stains on verso).

Stuck by upper corners under passe-partout.

Jan Hulswit (1766-1822) was specialised in landscape drawings, which he was able to sell as individual artworks on the market. His landscapes were in the collection of Louis Napoleon. The Dutch king William I used one of his drawings as a diplomatic gift to the king of Prussia. He was known to make a great number of variations of the same scene. This drawing follows one of Hulswit's most popular compositions, depicting a group of three figures at the waterside on the right bank. Within the same compositional group are "Landscape with waterway" in the Amsterdam Museum (inv. nr. TA 10551) and "River landscape with fishermen" in the Teylers Museum Haarlem (inv. nr. Y 015). Both are executed in the same technique using stark brown ink in combinations with a soft wash in grey. An almost identical drawing was recenty offered for sale at Sotheby's (30.1.2019). Hulswit's variations on the same theme were often an essential part of his artistic process, refining the drawing with each new version. Only the final version was signed, wich explains the lack of signature in our sheet.
Ref. A.J. Elen, "Met Eenigen Verandering naar't Leeven', compositionele herhaling met variaties in het tekenkunstig oeuvre van Jan Hulswit (1766-1822)", Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 4, Leiden 1987. - http://hdl.handle.net/11259/collection.40292 (Teylers version).
Prov. Albert van Loock, stamp on verso (Lugt 3751).