The talents of Meindert Hobbema (1638-1709) were so disregarded by his
countrymen that in disgust he, at the age of thirty, took a humble
post in the Customs. His woody scenes seen in the pale sunlight of the
early afternoon are not copied from any chance scenery, but composed;
and his _Water Mill_ (No. 2404), fine though it is, contains passages
that will be met with elsewhere. The _Farm_ (No. 2404A) is a very good
picture, as also is the _Landscape_ (No. 2403) from the Nieuwenhuys
collection. A very large number of painters, including Wyntrack, who
gives us a _Farm_ (No. 2639), painted the figures into the foregrounds
of Hobbema’s best works.