Thomas French, Cornwall Terrace, Regent's Park, London;
His deceased sale, London, Christie's, 12 May 1855, lot 52, (as 'Teniers. A landscape: with a view of Rubens's château and gardens...') to Smith;
Major Corbett Winder, of Vaynor Park, Berriew, Montgomeryshire;
His sale, London, Christie's, 17 June 1905, lot 59, for £75 12s;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 1 June 1934, lot 133, to Abbey;
Acquired by the late owner at an unknown date;
Thence by inheritance.

London, Burlington House, 1879, no. 75, as 'Château of the Painter' (lent by Major Corbett);
London, Burlington Houseꦛ, 1902, no. 215, as 'Château of 🐼the Painter' (lent by Major Corbett-Winder).

A. Graves, A Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912, vol. III, London 1914, pp. 1297 and 1299.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has a strong old stretcher with double vertical cross bars, and a quite old firm lining. The present restoration may be half a century old, with few retouchings. These are mainly at the edges: inevitably the base edge has a certain amount of retouched knocks and scuffs, there is a variable band of retouching up the right edge and just a few retouchings along the top edge, especially near the top left corner. The three signs of the Zodiac seen through openings in the sky along the top are rather thin and there is some strengthening in the cloud bursts around them, especially around the ram of Aries in the top left corner. The Gemini twins in the right corner are distinctly faint with much of the surrounding clouds retouched, while the central Taurus bull although rather thin has less. Overall the sky is in good condition, with no damage at all and although thinner nearer the top, the lower sky in particular is beautifully intact and fresh, with scarcely any retouching and just one slightly rubbed greyish cloud at upper centre near the trees. The landscape is also without any accidental damage and in largely fine condition. Some of the most transparent liquid paint in the underlying mid tones, in the trees and around the peasants may pole dance for instance, is fainter than it once was with a rather thinner area near the right edge, but where it was stronger around the allegorical figures it is in beautiful rich condition, as are the putti, the lovely garlands, orange trees and Spring herself. The delicate detail of the garden and the planting or pruning of the orchard is beautifully preserved, although there is a rather worn right side to the castle. The lake and boating party are also largely well preserved, if rather thinner in some parts of the water with some strengthening particularly nearer the base edge, in the shadows of the boat and by the swans. There are also some reinforced patches in the lakeside wall, and a few little strengthening touches in the shadows of the trees behind the figures. However overall the strength of the original technique has ensured that the fresh brushwork remains largely beautifully intact. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In the sky are the signs of the zodiac of Aries, Taurus and Gemini.  Thus, this picture is presumably one of a set of four seasons.  The tradition of depicting the seasons as landscapes with zodiacal signs in the sky goes back at least as far as Hans Bol in the late 16th Century, and sets of prints of them remained popular subsequently.  David Teniers the Younger probably produced several painted sets of Seasons.  One such set, painted on copper plates measuring circa 63 by 82 cm., each signed,  remains intact, in the care of the ICN, on loan to the Noordbrabants Museum in 's-Hertogenbosch.¹  The one depicting Spring also shows a formal parterre garden with elegant figures boating (a motif that also goes back to Hans Bol), and in both pictures the large house beyond is based on Teniers' own country retreat of Dry Toren.  The ICN Seasons were probably painted in Brussels in the early 1660s, while on grounds of style the present picture probably dates from slightly later.

We are grateful to Margret Klinge for confirming the attribution. She saw this picture in the original some years ago. She believes that the foreground figures are by David Teniers III, and that it and the three other Seasons from the same set, which exist in two private collections, were made in the late 1660s or early 1670s, probably in connection with a project for tapestries.

1.  Inv. 11.364; see A. Reuter, in M. Klinge & D. Lüdke (eds.), David Teniers der Jüngere..., exhibition catalogue, Heidelberg 2005, pp. 291-5, no. 94, all reproduced in colour.
2. The house in the present work was iden🌃tified as the 'country château of the painter' when it was lent on exhibition by Major Corbett Winder in 1879 and 1902, and in tꦛhe 1934 sale catalogue.