Jan van Goyen

This masterful river landscape exemplifies Jan van Goyen’s ceaseless exploration of the effects of light and atmosphere throughout his career. Signed in monogram and dated 1649, the work is a characteristic example of his mature period, particularly visible in the balance of his inventive tonal style with a more naturalistic color palette to capture the landscapes and everyday life of his Dutch homeland. That this landscape has survived in excellent condition allows for a greater appreciation of the variety of painterly effects Van Goyen employed to render the scene: broad strokes of the sky and clouds, shorter touches of light and shade to indicate faint ripples in the gently flowing water, and fine strokes of color to define the variegated foliage and architecture. 

From the 1630s onwards, Van Goyen adopted a strong receding diagonal for his river landscapes. In the present compositional scheme, the shoreline forms a low horizon line that softly recedes into the distance. Warm, golden hues, normally fugitive but here beautifully preserved, define much of the lower right register of the scene. These tones are used to capture the land, the manmade structures, and the lush foliage, all of which are reflected upon the surface of the water below. All of this is set beneath billowing clouds that fill a bright blue sky, the silvery tones of which are mirrored in the water at left, where a small boat filled with six figures moves toward land. Nestled beneath the large tree that anchors the composition's center are three dovecotes that teeter somewhat precariously over a few small boats moored along the shore. Enlivening the shoreline are several figures: one villager climbs a ladder to traverse a low wall, two sit in conversation beneath an arbor of the houses beyond the wall, and others work on the sailboats flying Dutch flags slightly down the shoreline. In the far distance at left appears a windmill, a boat at full sail, and the spire of church rising from a line of trees. 

A prolific and influential artist (around 1200 paintings and 800 drawings are known by him), Van Goyen was the most important pioneer of the naturalistic landscape in Holland. The present design was one that he explored throughout his career, as seen, for example, in a larger canvas of 1643 rendered in the more restrained tonal palette of his youth,¹ and in a slightly smaller panel, dated 1650, once in the collection of the Marques de Veri.²

1.  Formerly Jacques Goudstikker collection, oil on canvas, 124.3 by 176.2 cm. Sold Amsterdam, Christie’s, 14 November 2007, lot 46. See Beck 1973, p. 235, cat. no. 497, reproduced.

2. Oil on panel, 34.7 by 39.4 cm. Sold Amsterdam, Christie’s, 13 May 2014, lot 56. See Beck 1973, p. 252, cat. no. 542, reproduced.