This magnificent painting by Jacobus Storck depicts a view of the river Vecht with the castle Nijenrode in focus. The castle is close to the village Breukelen in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands. The castle Nijenrode is portrayed from the southeast side with several ships and figures in front of it. There also exist several paintings by Storck portraying the castle from the northeast side, for example one in the Rijksmuseum collection in Amsterdam.
Jacobus Storck was member of a family of Dutch painters; his father was the Amsterdam painter Jan Jansz. Sturck and his older brother Johannes and younger brother Abraham were both artists. Abraham was the most successful of the brothers, he and Jacobus were well known for their versatile marine paintings, topographical views and Italianate harbor scenes. But in the subject of architecture Jacobus surpassed Abraham; he was more accurate and paid extra attention to details. His palette, which emphasized the pastel shades, was more delicate than that of Abraham and is clearly visible in this particular painting that gives us a hint of how the Netherlands was perceived in the second half of the 17th century.
This painting probably belonged to Gustaf Oscar Ludvig (Gösta) Nobel (1886-1955) and has been inherited within the family since. Gustaf, the youngest son of Ludvig and Edla Nobel and nephew to Alfred Nobel, lived in Baku between 1914-17 and later took over as Managing Director of Branobel or "The Nobel Brothers Company". The oil company was founded by his father and his brother Robert in Baku. In 1918 during the Russian Revolution, Gustaf and his family had to flee to Saint Petersburg, Russia and lived there for a while.

We are grateful to dr. Laurens Schoemaker of the RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, the Hague, for proposing the attribution the painting.