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.