River Landscape with a Ferry

(Possibly sale, London, March 3, 1908, lot 122); Fischoff[1]. [Galerie Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris, by 1911)[2]. Edward Rathbone Bacon (1846-1915), New York and Netherdale House, Turriff, Aberdeenshire (before d. 1915); by descent to his brother, Walter Rathbone Bacon, and his sister-in-law, Mrs. Virginia Purdy Bacon, New York (1915-19) [3]; by descent to the Bacon heirs (1919-23, Bacon sale, Christie's, London, July 13, 1923, no. 29, for 680 guineas, to Tooth); [Arthur Tooth and Sons, Ltd., London]. [Paul Cassirer, Berlin]. Dr. Paul Kempner, Berlin, Germany, before 1925, and possibly still in 1938 [3]. [Pinakos, Inc. (Rudolf Heinemann), New York, by 1944, sold, 1/3 share, ?May 18, 1944?, to Knoedler ]; [M. Knoedler and Co., Inc., New York, 1944-45; stock no. A2773, sold, January 3, 1945, for $21, 000, Mia]. [1] According to Art Sales III, p. 331, Fischoff purchased the painting for £504. It has not been proven that this work is our painting. A second, smaller version exists which may conflict with provenance and exhibition history. [Neither Scipio nor the Frick have a sale catalogue for March 3, 1908 auction in London] [2] The work was referred to in a 1925 Sedelmeyer exhibition. [3] Kempner was a partner in the firm of Bankhaus Mendelssohn & Co. This fact is also stated on the invoice from Knoedler. The aryanization of the bank forced him to emigrate first to England and then the US in 1939. [4] Knoedler stock book (Getty Provenance Index) indicates that the painting was owned jointly between Pinakos, Inc. (2/3 share) and Knoedler (1/3 share). Mia purchased a smaller Ruysdael from Knoedler in December 1944, for $5, 000 (Knoedler stock no. A3002; Mia L43.2055, River Scene with Boats, 22 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.]; then exchanged this picture with Knoedler for larger Ruysdael (L44.1816; 45.9, River Scene 53 x 41 1/2 in.) in January 1945.