We are grateful to Marijke C. de Kinkelder of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague for confirming this painting to be by Jan Both, based on photographs.  She has identified the figures to be by the hand of Nicolas Berchem.  Though Berchem is known to have used themes and motifs by Both in circa 1657-58,¹ and to have copied a composition by him,² this is the first actual collaboration between the two artists that is known to her.  The galloping horsemen, especially the red-coated one, are found in another painting by Berchem,³ and again in a painting by Jan Asselijn.⁴

The composition is loosely related, in reverse, to an etching by Both (see fig. 1) which records the view as the Aqua Negro between Bologna and Florence (see Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700, vol. III, pp. 15♚8-9).  Both engraved a number of landscape compositions derived from his paintings; there are three other etchings in this series, known as the "Upright Italian Landscapes" that are 🦩based on similar expansive scenes of vertical format.   The composiiton of the present painting is arranged along diagonal lines, a format that Both often used to create a greater feeling of depth.

At the time of the 1993 sale (see Provenance), thi🌳s painting was sold with a certificate from Dr. Walther Bernt, dated May 27, 1973, 💙stating it to be a work by Both.

1  National Gallery, London, inv. no. 1004.
2  Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (see RKD images record no. 58646).
3  See RKD images record no. 52768.
4  See RKD images record no. 31223.