KLOMBECK; JOHANN BERNHARD
Kleve 1815 - 1893 - attributed

Forest Landscape with Livestock Train. Oil on canvas. Doubled. 46 x 62;5cm. Signed and dated below; left from the middle: J.B.Klom.ft. 185. (heavily rubbed!)
as well as later from another hand: B.C.Koekkoek 1853. Framed.

Provenance:
Private collection; Rhineland.

J.B.Klombeck was one of the protagonists of the Klever School.
Since 1841 he was a student of Barend Cornelisz Koekkoek; the probably most famous painter of this "Romanticist School". After his death; Klombeck took over the management of the Art Academy in Kleve.
Motives as well as the style of painting; colour and composition of both artists are often not easy to divide. Manipulations of signatures and later added signatures make it even harder to give a safe attribution.
In our catalogue for the 351st auction in May 2015; this painting was presented as a B.C.Koekkoek. After the catalogue went public; we received many professional indications questioning the attribution to B.C. Koekkoek and the signature (which obviously belonged to the painting and is the same age).
A detailed examination of the surface under a microscope showed a remarkable result. Left of the Koekkoek-signature there is a second dated signature which is heavily rubbed; but mostly readable: J.B.Klom... ft. 185...
The writing resembles the known signatures of Johan Bernhard Klombeck.
If the second signature is a consciously added manipulation or if; after an over cleaning of the lower parts; the signature was added out of a lack of knowledge; is not easy to decide.Art trade; Van Ham.