ATTRIBUTED TO PIETER JACOBSZ VAN LAER (1599 – CIRCA 1642) The Boar Hunt

inscribed in Cyrillic 'Dubliroval i restavriroval khudozhnik E. Sivers. St. Peterburg, 1857 [Lined and restored by the painter E. Siewers, St. Petersburg, 1857]' Edward Siewers served as an assistant restorer at the Imperial Hermitage. In 1856, he received the title of Class Artist in Watercolour Painting from the Imperial Academy of Arts (on the reverse) oil on canvas 55 x 63 cm The present work may be compared with Pieter van Laer's Boar Hunt sold at Bonhams, New York, on 21 April 2009. While the overall composition is closely related, several details distinguish the present version, most notably the treatment of the branches. A closely comparable composition is also preserved in the Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu. The Cyrillic inscription on the reverse of the canvas, recording that the painting was lined and restored in 1857 at the Imperial Hermitage in St Petersburg, is of particular significance. This early restoration, carried out at one of the Russian Empire's most prestigious institutions, suggests that the painting already belonged to an important collection by the mid-nineteenth century.