Strauss & co - 9 November 2015, Johannesburg

138 217 Jacob Hendrik PIERNEEF south african 1886–1957 Houtbos, Transvaal signed oil on board 39 by 29 cm R500 000 – 800 000 provenance Professor Ernst van Heerden Sold by Stephan Welz & Co, Johannesburg, 17 May 1999, Lot 320 Private collection, Johannesburg literature cf. Pierneef, Souvenir Brochure of Paintings , South African Railways, April 1978, illustrated in colour. cf. Coetzee, N.J. (1992) Pierneef, Land and Landscape , Johannesburg: Johannesburg Art Gallery. Illustrated in colour. cf. A Space for Landscape: the work of JH Pierneef , Johannesburg: the Standard Bank Gallery, 8 July to 12 September 2015, illustrated in colour on page 121. After visiting Woodbush in 1903 John Buchan, famous author and administrator, wrote: ‘The Woodbush remained a paradise with a few devotees, a place secret and strange, with a beauty so peculiar that the people who tried to describe it were rarely believed. A delight in the Woodbush is apt to spoil a man for scenery ---’. Sir Herbert Baker visited Woodbush with his wife at the invitation of Sir Lionel and Lady Phillips. In his letter of thanks he noted: ‘Mrs Baker and I will never forget the enjoyment of our visit.’ It is not surprising that Pierneef too was enchanted by the Woodbush landscape. He painted several landscapes in the area, including this view in which he certainly captured the spirit and the beauty of the place. An almost identical but considerably larger work is included in the 32 panels which he painted for the then new Johannesburg Station Concourse in 1929 which today hang in the Rupert Museum, Stellenbosch. It is not certain whether this painting served as a study for the larger station panel or whether it was painted slightly earlier and that Pierneef regarded it as suited and important enough to expand on it when given the commission.