xiv MEINDERT HOBBEMA 405 great trees on a sandy bank. To the right are some low thatched cottages, with trees in front, which are reflected in a dark pool that fills the right foreground. To the left of the clump of trees a man sits on the grass, conversing with a woman who stands before him. On the road in the centre, where the sunlight falls, is a traveller with a stick. To the right, through the trees, is seen the distant plain. Blue sky with bright clouds ; the sunlight falls from the left. [Compare 215. See 32 for signature.] Signed in full the M and H being joined on the right at foot, and dated 1659 ; panel, 2i inches by 36 J inches. Engraved on wood by C. Carter for the Magazine of Art, 1890. In the collection of Sir James Erskine of Torrie ; bequeathed to the College of Edinburgh, and deposited in the National Gallery. In the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, 1909 catalogue, No. 4. 151. A WOODLAND SCENE. To the left, on the farther bank of a stream, is a clump of leafy trees ; nearer to the centre is a taller tree. To the right is a wooded river valley. The river flows in deep shadow between the trees on the left and the bank in front, which is covered with bushes and logs. A boat is crossing the river. Beneath the tallest tree are two anglers. To the left two men walk in the dark wood. The author's earlier doubts as to the authenticity of the picture (see Oud Holland^ xi. pp. 131-32) were unjustified ; it is genuine throughout. Waagen doubted it in 1854 (iii. 272). [Compare 215.] Signed in full on the left at foot ; panel, i8| inches by 27 inches. In the collection of Sir James Erskine of Torrie ; bequeathed to the College of Edinburgh, and deposited in the National Gallery. In the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, 1909 catalogue, No. 32. 152. THE ENTRANCE TO THE WOOD. At the edge of a wood to the left are clumps of beeches and oaks. A marshy pool extends into the wood from the right foreground ; the dark water contrasts with the light sandy bank in the centre foreground. In front, to the left, lies a fallen tree ; behind it is a little thatched cottage, with a hedge round it. A man and a woman wade through the shallow water. A traveller approaches on the right, on a road dividing the wood from the open country. In the right distance is a village with a church. Signed in full on the right at foot but the signature is false, accord- ing to the Frankfort catalogue ; panel, 24 inches by 33^ inches. Engraved by J. Eissenhardt. Bought from Dr. Abegg in 1817. In the Stadel'sches Kunstinstitut, Frankfort-on-Main, 1900 catalogue, No. 290. 153. A WOODED LANDSCAPE WITH A SHATTERED OAK. In the right foreground is a pool with reeds and water-plants, which stretches away towards the centre distance. Beyond the pool to the right is an old oak, half broken, with a dense wood behind it. From the left foreground a road leads beside the pool into the distance, where it forks, one branch bending to the right. To the left of the road is a sunlit cottage. The middle distance, shut off by the wood, is also in sunlight. Along the road come a woman and a girl in red with a bundle under her
