Mommers, Berchem, and Huchtenburgh, and finally adopted the style of the
latter. His subjects generally are skirmishes, marches, and camps. His
Camp is full of life. The canvas of a tent is fixed to a tree-trunk.
Before the tent sits a cavalier, glass in hand and holding a horse by
the bridle, talking to a woman standing in front of him. Inside the
tent, soldiers are playing cards; on the right, two dogs are fighting.
There are other groups of soldiers, beggars, horses, women, and
children. The background is closed by tents at the foot of an elevation
crowned by a fortress.
=Jan Maartsen's Cavalry Combat.=--Jan Maartsen (d. 1645) painted battles
and cavalry skirmishes. His Cavalry Combat, dated 1630, shows a fight
between Dutch and Spaniards. Infantry are engaged in the background.
=Vrancx's Pillage and his Promenade.=--Sebastian Vrancx (or Francken)
has a Pillage, somewhat similar to that of Wouwermans. Soldiers are seen
pursuing fugitives and chasing cattle before them; one soldier takes a
poor peasant from his house as prisoner; and farther away, near a tree,
are a horseman on a rearing horse, and a house in flames; in the middle
distance the village street guarded by the cavalry; and in the
background houses, and a town on the horizon.
His Promenade shows a gentleman in black, with brown mantle and large
hat ornamented with green, white, and red feathers, offering his hand to
a lady in a white dress, red overskirt, black mantle, and red bonnet. On
the right is a grape-vine; on the left, an inn, in which several persons
are seated; and on the horizon, a town.
The same subject is again treated, but this time the gentleman wears a
costume of white satin and red velvet, a brown cloak and a brown hat
with a green plume, and high leather boots, while the lady has a blue
dress, a white bodice, a tunic of red satin, a fluted ruff, and a round
hat. Fireworks are seen in the background.
=Esais van de Velde's Battle Picture.=--Esais van de Velde has a
Nocturnal Combat between Cavalry and Infantry, in which a Dutch troop of
cavalry are attacking Spanish Mousquetaires and Lansquenets, the scene
illuminated by a tent in flames. Far in the distance are the towers and
spires of a town.
=Johan Huchtenburgh and his Cavalry Combat.=--Johan van Huchtenburgh
(1646-1733) was a pupil of Thomas Wijk. After joining his brother Jacob
in Italy in 1667, and working there for a time, he left for France, and
painted under the direction of the celebrated battle-painter, A. F. van
der Meulen. On his return to Holland in 1670 he grew famous; afterwards
he painted scenes from the wars in which William III., Marlborough, and
Prince Eugene were prominent. His Cavalry Combat shows a fight between
the Imperial troops and the Turks in a mountainous district. It is full
of action. The foreground is in shadow, while the middle distance and
background are fully illuminated.
=Lingelbach's Country People by a Fountain.=--Country People by a
Fountain is the title of a picture by J. Lingelbach. In the foreground
of an Italian landscape several country people are variously grouped; on
the right, at the foot of a rock, a fountain gushes forth, by which is a
man wrapped in sheepskin; in the centre, a woman riding an ass, is
talking to another woman, who stands by her side; then comes a boy; then
a man is seen drinking from the fountain, his ass beside him. On the
left, another peasant is riding a white horse laden with panniers; and
by his side walks a man with a stick in his hand, and followed by a dog.
On the left is a lake; and mountains form the background.
=Three Landscapes by Adam Pynacker.=--The Rotterdam Gallery owns three
pictures by Adam Pynacker. In An Italian Landscape a line of high
mountains edges the horizon, from which stretches a plain; and in the
foreground on the right, a river flows from a high mountain through a
rocky gorge. Two men are fishing; and near them are a dog and an ass. On
the left a road leads to a small lake, on the borders of which a
herdsman and his cattle are advancing. In the Mountainous Landscape a
ruined tower stands at the foot of a high rock on the left; and along
the road that is lost behind the hill and rocks in the foreground,
peasants and their cattle are seen. The setting sun throws its warm rays
over the wooded hills and over the river that winds through the vast
landscape and upon the figures, and illuminates a cow and a goat
browsing among the bushes and rocks. On the Border of a Lake shows a
sheet of water illuminated by the sun, and on the left several persons
are embarking. In the distance are rocky peaks partly wooded; and men
are fishing from the shore of the lake.
=Jacob Huchtenburgh's Mountainous Landscape.=--Jacob van Huchtenburgh
followed his master, Berchem. In the foreground of his Mountainous
Landscape a road crosses a river by a three-arched stone bridge. In the
road are some sheep and peasants; and a shepherd with an ass and two
cows is crossing the bridge. At a ford on the right a man is watering
two horses. Some distance away there is a cloister at the foot of a high
mountain, before which are monks, peasants, and a carriage and horses.
Higher up the mountain are a farm, a castle, and a group of buildings
surrounded by walls. Peasants are dancing in a valley on the left.
Finally, we see a vast mountain landscape through which a river winds.
=Moucheron's Mountainous Landscape.=--Another Mountainous Landscape is
by Moucheron. In the foreground we observe a woman on a white horse. She
is talking to a man who descends a hill. Some country people are wading
through a ford, and on the other side of the stream stands a ruined
tower. The picture is lighted by the warm rays of the setting sun.
Adriaen van de Velde painted the figures.
=Two Imitators of Poelenburg's Style.=--Jan van Bronckhorst has an
Italian Landscape in the style of Poelenburg, by which he is most
commonly known. There are ruins partly surrounded by water, two bathers,
a shepherd and goats, a stone bridge, and mountainous background.
Another imitator of Poelenburg was Jacob Esselens (b. 1628), who painted
landscapes, marines, and town views. A Landscape shows a distinguished
company of ladies and gentlemen beside a stream with carriages, horses,
hounds, herons, and falcons. On the river are a yacht and a row-boat;
and, in the distance, a castle among the trees. The scene is full of
color and movement.
=Jan Beerstraten and his Town Gate.=--Jan Beerstraten (d. 1660) painted
marines and town views; but nothing is known of him except that he
married Magdalena Bronckhorst. His drawing is good, color excellent, and
brush work strong. Some of his marines will bear comparison with those
of Backhuysen. A. van de Velde sometimes painted his figures. A Town
Gate, signed and dated 1654, worthily displays his powers. In a
mountainous country we see a town, with its churches, towers, gates, and
fortifications, situated on both sides of a river; on the water several
boats are sailing and rowing; and, on the banks, people are bathing and
promenading.
=Jan Hackaert's Mountainous Landscape.=--Jan Hackaert has a fine
Mountainous Landscape with a shepherd playing a clarinet by a stream,
and a couple of peasants dancing, watched by a man with his back to us.
On a hill to the right, under tall trees, are a hunter and his dog; to
the left, a man on horseback followed by a dog. A road runs along the
banks of a lake, at the foot of a high mountain brightly illuminated by
the sun, on which three cavaliers are approaching at a fast trot. The
figures and animals in this canvas belong to J. Lingelbach.
=Berchem and Two who painted in his Style.=--Johannes van der Bent
(1650-90) was a pupil of Ph. Wouwermans and A. van de Velde; but he also
imitated the style of N. Berchem. He has an Italian Landscape in which a
shepherdess is milking a goat in the foreground, with another woman and
a boy near her; farther on are a white horse and cattle. The mountainous
background has a cascade as usual. Berchem is not strongly represented
here,--only by A Grotto: a woman and two men, one mounted on an ass, are
driving cattle over a ford. On the right, a shepherd is driving a flock
of sheep; there are high mountains in the distance. Dirk van Berghen has
also a Landscape and Animals in this style with mountainous and woody
perspective.
=J. Both's Italian Landscape: Evening.=--Johannes Both has another of
his pictures here that shows the influence of Claude Lorraine. In the
Italian Landscape: Evening, the left foreground is occupied by tall
trees; a chariot is drawn by two oxen along a road leading to an old
tower; on the horizon is a town on the sea-shore.
=P. Bout's Italian Seaport.=--Pieter Bout (1658-1702) almost always
worked in collaboration with N. Boudwijns, for whose landscapes he
supplied figures. Works exclusively his own are very rare. He belonged
to the Flemish-Italian school, and has here a busy and lively Italian
Seaport in the style of J. B. Weenix. It is signed and dated 1669, which
hardly agrees with the date given for his birth unless he was very
precocious.
=Other Painters in the Same Group.=--In this group also we might include
Gerrit Claes Bleecker (d. 1656), whose work recalls Elzheimer and his
followers. His Saul on the Road to Damascus is classical rather than
Biblical in sentiment, and the landscape is Italian.
=Weenix's Tobias Sleeping under a Vine.=--The same may be said of the
charming Tobias Sleeping under a Vine by J. B. Weenix. In this there is
a house on the right, against the wall of which is a vine under which
Tobias is sleeping. A magpie is flying above his head, and beside him
are various objects such as this artist loved to paint,--vegetables, a
great copper milk pan, a yoke, harness, and other things, including a
basket of grapes and an earthen pitcher. In the background a man is
mounting a ladder. The picture is signed and dated 1662, two years
before the painter's death.
Hendrick Mommers (1623-97) also has an Italian Landscape. He imitated
the style of Karel Dujardin, another painter of this school. Frederick
de Moucheron has a Mountainous Landscape. His pictures also were peopled
by the indefatigable Van de Velde and Lingelbach.
=Landscape Setting for The Good Samaritan.=--Joris van der Hagen is
another who makes use of a Biblical episode as an excuse for a
landscape, or for the frame of the subject, as in his Landscape Serving
as a Frame for the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In the foreground on
the left, near two tall trees, the Good Samaritan has dismounted and is
stanching the wounds of the traveller; four dogs are near the ass; not
far away the brigands are descending a path at the foot of a mountain.
On the right is the Levite, and farther back is the Pharisee, going away
in a different direction. In the background is a river crossed by a
three-arched bridge, on the other side of which are high buildings
surrounded with trees. Mountains close the view.
=Boaz and Ruth in an Italian Setting.=--Gerbrand van den Eeckhout
(1621-74), although a pupil of Rembrandt, painted so-called Biblical
scenes in much the same spirit. Thus his Boaz and Ruth has an Italian
setting. In the foreground Boaz is talking to his servant; Ruth is
standing beside the latter with her apron full of wheat. On the left is
a barn surrounded with trees; in front of it three harvesters are eating
their meal; on the right beside a plough are a straw hat, a game-bag,
and a pitcher. In the background is a field of corn which is being
reaped and sheafed. Mountains close the scene.
=Balaam, by the Same Artist.=--Again in Balaam, trees and a river, high
mountains and ruins, form the background. The prophet is seated on his
ass, and beating him with a stick to make him advance; but on the left
an angel in white with golden wings stops him, sword in hand. Balaam is
followed by two horsemen in Roman costume, and behind them is a chariot
drawn by two horses.
=The Flight into Egypt with an Italian Background.=--Pieter Lastman
painted an Italian landscape as a background for the Flight into Egypt.
Here we see the Virgin Mary on an ass with the Infant Jesus in her arms,
and by her side walks Joseph, carrying his carpenter's tools. A tree is
seen on the left; and a cascade, ruins, and rocks in the background on
the right.
=Van der Weyden's The Apostle John.=--Rogier van der Weyden (1390-1464)
is an early master who painted in this style. In his The Apostle St.
John, the Apostle is seated in the foreground of a landscape, writing on
a sheet of paper which lies on his knees. He wears a red robe, and a
large red mantle lined with green falls from his shoulders and covers
his knees with ample folds. Behind him, a winged demon empties his
inkstand. On the left two gentleman are seen on horseback, and the
background shows a mountainous landscape traversed by a river and
enlivened by a castle and a fortified town.
=Van der Maes and Van der Werff.=--Evert Crijnsz van der Maes
(1577-1646) has a St. Jerome in a landscape, signed and dated 1609.
Another picture of a hermit is by B. Matton, who lived a little later.
Pieter van der Werff has a Repentant Magdalen, who is kneeling in a
grotto with hands crossed on her breast, while she reads a parchment
scroll covered with Hebraic characters.
=Jan van Byler's Picture of Rachel and her Father.=--Jan van Byler, born
in Utrecht in the second half of the seventeenth century, and pupil of
his father, is rarely met with in either public or private galleries.
Here, however, we find Laban Reproaching Rachel for having Carried off
his Household Gods. In the foreground, Rachel is seated holding by one
hand a little boy, while with the other she makes a gesture, as if to
ward off the reproaches of Laban, who is standing before her. On the
right is a young man carrying a basket. A brown and white dog lies in
the foreground; and in the distance are seen two men and a camel near a
tent attached to the trunk of a tree.
=H. Goltzius.=--H. Goltzius is represented by an interesting picture,
Juno Receiving the Eyes of Argus Killed by Mercury. Mercury is seated on
a red cloak; in his right hand he holds one of the eyes of Argus, which
Juno, descending on a cloud, is about to receive in her robe. Before him
are the severed head and corpse of Argus and a naked sword. A rocky
landscape extends to the right, and on the left, in the clouds, the
chariot of Juno, drawn by peacocks.
=Moreelse's Vertumnus and Pomona.=--An interesting mythological picture
by Moreelse is called Vertumnus and Pomona. The latter is seated under
the trees to the left with her face turned toward the spectator. She
wears a yellow silk dress with a blue tunic; her right hand holds a
pruning-hook and her left a bunch of white grapes. A little behind her
Vertumnus is seen in the guise of an old woman, leaning on a stick and
extending the left hand.
=De Vos's Allegory, Crowned by Riches.=--Cornelius de Vos (1585-1651),
pupil of David Remens, has an Allegory, Crowned by Riches. On the right,
under a red tent fringed with gold, a young woman in a green dress and
mantle embroidered with gold, a crown of gold in her right hand and a
sceptre in her left, stands majestically. Before her kneels a farmer to
be crowned, and he extends his hand to the fruits and vegetables in the
foreground. On a table to the right, covered with a crimson cloth, are
various objects of gold and silver. Farther back under the tent are two
women, a negro, and Love. In the middle distance is Time with his
scythe. To the left in the background, a landscape, where people are
tilling the soil.
=An Allegory by De Wit.=--Jacob de Wit also has an Allegory. Minerva, in
a landscape, is seated with her right hand on her harp; in front of her,
four naked children are sporting, and one is playing a harp.
=A Classical Scene by Van der Ulft.=--Jacob van der Ulft has a picture,
painted in 1674, representing The Betrothed of Allucius Led as Prisoner
Before Scipio. Ruins of temples and city walls and gates are seen to
right and left. In the foreground are Scipio, the betrothed of Allucius,
and other prisoners. Farther back are Roman soldiers with chariots,
elephants, camels, and spoils of war. In the background a town is seen
at the base of the mountains.
=Achilles Recognized by Ulysses, by Van Limborch.=--Achilles Recognized
by Ulysses, by H. van Limborch, shows Achilles kneeling on the ground in
the dress of a woman with a blue chalmys, having a sword in his right
and the scabbard in his left hand; he is recognized by Ulysses who, with
another person, is standing behind him. On the ground lie a helmet, a
shield, several precious objects, and some jewels which are being
examined and handled by the wives of Lycomedes, King of Scyros. In the
background on the left is the peristyle of a palace; and on the right
are several persons near a statue and a boat.
=De Vriendt's The Death of Lucrezia.=--The Death of Lucrezia, by Frans
Floris de Vriendt, is painted in a similar vein. Lucrezia is on her
knees, in a despairing pose, and about to stab herself. In the
background several buildings are seen.
=Painters of Purely Dutch Scenery.=--Turning now to painters of purely
Dutch scenery and outdoor life, the Boijmans contains many pictures by
the followers of Rembrandt, Potter, Ruisdael, and Wouwermans. Some of
these display the open country, and others the life by the wayside, in
the streets, and in the vicinity of towns. There are many charming
pictures of the outdoor life of the gentry, the tradesmen, and the
farmers. We have scenes of hunting, hawking, fishing, promenades, and
cavalcades, with beautiful landscape surroundings, and several pictures
of the farm, pure and simple.
=Three Pictures by Jacob Ruisdael.=--Jacob Ruisdael has one picture, The
Corn Field, which represents a hilly landscape. In the foreground
brushwood, heath, and moss; on the right two oaks and, on an incline, a
wheat-field partly cut, and mowers who are resting. On the horizon, to
the left, is the sea with a few sails upon it.
Another picture is called A Sandy Road, and on this, which leads through
brushwood and oak-trees, trudge two persons. On the right is a pool
partly hidden in shadow.
The third picture by Ruisdael represents The Old Fish-Market at
Amsterdam. On the right is the tower of the old church; in the
foreground are the fish-venders sitting at their stalls and many
promenaders; and in the background is the canal, on which boats are
lying and sails spread out to dry. The figures were painted by Gerard
van Battem.
=A Wooded Landscape by Izack van Ruisdael.=--Izack van Ruisdael (1628 or
9-1677) is represented by A Wooded Landscape, signed and dated 1665.
Water is seen to the right, as well as in the foreground, and six cows
are standing in it. On the left are several tall trees, beneath which
are cows and sheep; and far in the distance some men are fishing from
the bank.
=A Wooded Landscape by Hobbema.=--A Wooded Landscape and Landscape by
Hobbema are characteristic examples. The first shows fine treatment of
light. The sun piercing through thick clouds lights the middle distance,
while foreground and background are in shadow. Among the tall trees in
the background a barn is seen; then a boy and a woman fording the
stream; a shepherd and some sheep near a willow tree; then come two
tree-trunks and some brushwood; then a winding road, on which a peasant
and a boy are walking; then a sheet of water bordered by willows.
=Another Landscape by Hobbema.=--The other Landscape also shows a sheet
of water in the foreground where two persons are fishing; then a
tree-trunk, half of which is in the water; then some trees on a rising
ground. A couple of ducks are swimming in the water. In the background a
peasant's house is seen, before which a man is standing; and on the left
a second clump of trees, where two persons are walking. The background
is brilliantly lighted; but the middle distance and the foreground are
in shadow.
=Van Kessel's Landscape near Haarlem.=--Jan van Kessel (1648-98), about
whom little is known, and some of whose works follow the style of J. van
Ruisdael, has here a Landscape near Haarlem and a View of Amsterdam. The
first shows a brightly lighted foreground with a road leading to a
village on the right, the ruins of the Castle of Brederode. Huntsmen and
dogs, a shepherd and sheep, and some swans in a moat, by Lingelbach,
enliven the scene. The middle distance is in shadow, and here we have
trees, fields, and dunes. The background shows a brightly lighted
landscape stretching away into the distance.
=His View of Amsterdam.=--His View of Amsterdam shows a canal where a
man is rowing a boat, a large boat fastened on the right, some swans
floating in the water on the left. The canal, shut by the gates, is
crossed by a stone bridge, on which some people are walking. In the
corner is a quay bordered with trees, and on the horizon a clock-tower.
=One of Isaak van Ostade's Rare Pictures.=--Isaak van Ostade (1621-49),
a pupil of his brother Adriaen, usually painted inns and village scenes,
now extremely rare. Neither the Mauritshuis nor the Rijks owns an
example. Hence the Inn among the Dunes is of great interest. A chariot,
drawn by a white horse, is arriving before an inn among the trees on the
left. The horse is being fed, and some travellers and children stand in
front of the door. A little boy is leading some pigs across the
foreground; two horsemen are galloping away in the distance, and the
horizon shows the dunes and a clock-tower.
=A. van der Neer's Moonlit Landscape.=--A Moonlit Landscape by Aert van
der Neer is a striking picture with simple materials. A road, bordered
with trees, is seen in the foreground, with two persons approaching; in
the middle distance are some cows on the banks of a canal, and peasants'
houses under the trees, with a clock-tower in the background. The sky is
stormy, and the moon is rising and throwing its rays on the water.
=A. van de Velde's Landscape and Blacksmith.=--Adriaen van de Velde has
a Landscape with Animals and A Blacksmith. The first shows a flat
landscape with a light brown ox, and a little farther away a sheep lying
down, and also a cow; in the background a farmhouse is seen beneath the
trees, and a vast meadow dotted with cows stretches away to the right.
The Blacksmith is in the background at the door of his forge, before
which a boy stands with a gray horse. An ass, a cock, and some hens lend
additional animation to the little scene.
=Two Norwegian Landscapes by Everdingen.=--Albert van Everdingen is
represented by two fine examples of the Norwegian landscape, for which
he is famous. The scenes are lively, with human figures in both.
=A Hunting Scene by Keirinckx and Poelenburg.=--Alexander Keirinckx (b.
1600) was a painter of landscapes and views of towns. He painted with
much truth to nature, his foliage especially being executed with rare
perfection. Poelenburg, as a rule, painted the figures in his pictures,
as he did in A Forest, signed and dated 1630. This is a hunting scene,
with a gentleman on horseback followed by hounds under tall trees in the
foreground. Other figures are a huntsman sounding a call, two other
hunters, and a stag in the distance among the trees.
=Verboom's Evening.=--Abraham Hendricksz Verboom (seventeenth century)
is represented by Evening, showing trees in the foreground, huntsmen and
dogs in the middle distance lighted by the setting sun, and behind a
wooden fence a farmhouse. In the background a clock-tower appears on the
right, while a rocky landscape extends to the left.
=Nymegen's Swiss Landscape.=--Gerard van Nymegen (1735-1808) was the
pupil of his father D. van Nymegen. He visited Germany and Switzerland.
The Boijmans owns a Swiss Landscape, in which a majestic and foaming
cascade plunges down the rocks; while, on the left, in the foreground,
is a large fallen tree. Shepherds and sheep are crossing a bridge.