Jan van Goyen - Landscape with a Farmstead and a Traveller

Jan van Goyen

Landscape with a Farmstead and a Traveller

Oil on panel (parquetted). 27 x 43 cm.

The present landscape by van Goyen belongs to a series of paintings dated to 1628/1629 (see Ulrich Beck: Jan van Goyen, vol. II, Amsterdam 1973, no. 1056, 1057, 1059, 1075). They show a similar farmstead on the right, a shady area in the foreground and dappled sunlight in the mid ground. Their motif is a landscape of low dunes without water combined with a simple dwelling, often a thatched cottage. Due to their sparse staffage, the inhabitants of these lonely farmsteads appear to be absent, which is what lends these pictures their great sense of peace and special charm. The anecdotal qualities of van Goyen's early works is missing, but the painterly quality of his more monochrome style with its characteristic yellowish and grey-green tones gains in importance.

Provenance

939. Lempertz auction, Cologne, 16.5.2009, lot 1056. - Private collection, Rhineland. - To be sold on behalf of the Verein der Freunde des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums, Cologne.