Landscapes. Peasant riding a donkey.

The short-lived Dancker Danckerts (1634-1666) was a well known Dutch engraver and publisher. Danckerts was the son of Cornelis Danckerts of Amsterdam and Anne Minne of Leiden. The Danckerts belonged to a large Amsterdam family of engravers, cartographers, print-sellers and publishers, who also included Dancker's brother, Justus. Danckerts was known for both his etchings of paintings, maps and his publications; one of his favoured artists, who provided the original artwork for this etching, was the well-known landscape painter Nicolaes Berchem (1620-1683). Danckerts' work had taken him to Venice by the time of his death. His works are widely collected and feature in numerous museum, library and archive collections around the world.

This etching is a research 'work in progress'. It is provisionally titled Peasant riding a donkey, though there is much more to the composition than that.  Roseberry's auctions (14 May 2016, no. 488), described it rather better as Travellers on a mountain path. In a ruggedly Italianate landscape, Berchem's/Danckerts' cast of characters, both human and animal, are up to their usual activities. A family group of three travellers - the woman on a laden donkey, a horned cow, their boy and a dog dominate the right foreground. He or she is about to be met by another dog, who belongs to the woman and child on the left.

Sources:

Wikipedia, 'Dancker Danckerts', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancker_Danckerts

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art    April 2019