JAN GRIFFIER I (AMSTERDAM 1645/56-1718 LONDON)
Figures before a mill, in a busy river scence beyond an extensive mountainous river landscape
oil on panel
21.5 x 29 cm (8 1/4 x 11 1/2 in.)

Provenance
Private Collection, London

Jan Griffier was born in Amsterdam and studied under Dutch Golden Age artist Roland Roghman (c.1620-86) and Dutch landscape painter Jan Looten (1618-81). He was well regarded for his small-scale depictions of extensive landscapes, such as the present example. Notably, English Art Historian Horace Walpole claimed that Griffier executed his work ‘with richness and neat colouring, and enlivened with small figures, cattle and buildings' (Walpole 1888, II, p.130).

References
Horace Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting in England, revised edition, London 1888, II, pp.129-31