C.P. van Eeghen, Senr. (bears his mark, verso, not in Lugt);

by𒐪 descent to his daughter, Mrs. Korthals Altes-van Eeghen,

by whose heirs sold, via Johan Bosch van Rosenthal🐬💛, London, July 2002

The Hegereiterbrücke crosses the river Weißeritz, on the south-west outskirts of Dresden. The north end of the bridge is in what used to be the village of Plauen. The bridge, which is the oldest surviving stone bridge in Saxony, was constructed around 1780, and was therefore very new at the time when Dupré drew it. A painting by Dupré of the same view, but with additional staffage (two cows in the river in the foreground, a herder seated on the big rock, and sheep and go♎ats on the bank), was sold at Christie’s, Amsterdam, on 22 November 2013 (lot 203). The painting, which must be based on this drawing, is signed and dated 1812.

In 1786, Dupré won a scholarship from a Haarlem learned society that made it possible for him to travel to Italy for the first time. He stayed there for some five years, making numerous drawings of Italian cities, monuments and above all landscapes, and t༺hese motifs provided him with subjects for the rest of his life. This drawing must have been made during the course of his journey south to Italy.