Artist: Aert Van Der Neer
Date: 1650
Size: 31 x 43 cm
Technique: Oil On Panel
This small panel is probably one of the earliest moonlit landscapes by Aert van der Neer. The scene is very difficult to read compared to the large Landscape by Moonlight from around 1650-55.7 If one peers at the dark picture long enough one can gradually make out houses, objects and animals. Van der Neer was particularly subtle in the foreground. On the left, for example, is the attractive silhouette of a couple of reddish-brown cows which are hard to separate from their surroundings. In the centre are the slightly clearer shapes of another pair at the waterside. The most well-defined object is the gnarled dead branch below, the edges of which are picked out by the moonlight. Van der Neer’s distinctive manner can be glimpsed here and there. For example, he brought out the lighter underlayer by the reeds in the foreground by scratching in the wet paint. However, the handling of the surface is less subtle a little further back. The moon’s reflection in the water is executed with impasto but is not convincing, and the village to the right is difficult to decipher. According to Bachmann, Van der Neer’s first evening landscapes are recognizable by their darkness.8 It was only in the 1650s that he succeeded in having the objects in his evening and nocturnal scenes convincingly illuminated. The composition and style of the Rijksmuseum picture are comparable to those of a few works that are also regarded as being early moonlit paintings. One in Worms, which is admittedly twice as large, has the same structure of a tree trunk and fringe of reeds in the foreground, with the silhouettes of two pairs of cows beyond.9 Another in Frankfurt has similar unnaturally bright clouds on the left, making this part of the composition look as if it is illuminated by broad daylight. 10 These three paintings give the impression that the artist was still searching for a convincing way of depicting a nocturnal scene. They are thus probably datable in the 1640s. Erlend de Groot, 2022 See Key to abbreviations, Rijksmuseum painting catalogues and Acknowledgements
Artist |
|
|---|---|
Download |
|
Permissions |
Free for non commercial use. See below. |
 |
This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. However - you may not use this image for commercial purposes and you may not alter the image or remove the watermark. This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.
|
Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may
not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the
