Jacob Huchtenburgh's Mountainous Landscape.—Jacob van Huchtenburgh followed his master, Berchem. In the foreground of his Mountainous Landscape a road crosses a river by a three-arched stone bridge. In the road are some sheep and peasants; and a shepherd with an ass and two cows is crossing the bridge. At a ford on the right a man is watering two horses. Some distance away there is a cloister at the foot of a high mountain, before which are monks, peasants, and a carriage and horses. Higher up the mountain are a farm, a castle, and a group of buildings surrounded by walls. Peasants are dancing in a valley on the left. Finally, we see a vast mountain landscape through which a river winds.
Moucheron's Mountainous Landscape.—Another Mountainous Landscape is by Moucheron. In the foreground we observe a woman on a white horse. She is talking to a man who descends a hill. Some country people are wading through a ford, and on the other side of the stream stands a ruined tower. The picture is lighted by the warm rays of the setting sun. Adriaen van de Velde painted the figures.
Two Imitators of Poelenburg's Style.—Jan van Bronckhorst has an Italian Landscape in the style of Poelenburg, by which he is most commonly known. There are ruins partly surrounded by water, two bathers, a shepherd and goats, a stone bridge, and mountainous background. Another imitator of Poelenburg was Jacob Esselens (b. 1628), who painted landscapes, marines, and town views. A Landscape shows a distinguished company of ladies and gentlemen beside a stream with carriages, horses, hounds, herons, and falcons. On the river are a yacht and a row-boat; and, in the distance, a castle among the trees. The scene is full of color and movement.
Jan Beerstraten and his Town Gate.—Jan Beerstraten (d. 1660) painted marines and town views; but nothing is known of him except that he married Magdalena Bronckhorst. His drawing is good, color excellent, and brush work strong. Some of his marines will bear comparison with those of Backhuysen. A. van de Velde sometimes painted his figures. A Town Gate, signed and dated 1654, worthily displays his powers. In a mountainous country we see a town, with its churches, towers, gates, and fortifications, situated on both sides of a river; on the water several boats are sailing and rowing; and, on the banks, people are bathing and promenading.
Jan Hackaert's Mountainous Landscape.—Jan Hackaert has a fine Mountainous Landscape with a shepherd playing a clarinet by a stream, and a couple of peasants dancing, watched by a man with his back to us. On a hill to the right, under tall trees, are a hunter and his dog; to the left, a man on horseback followed by a dog. A road runs along the banks of a lake, at the foot of a high mountain brightly illuminated by the sun, on which three cavaliers are approaching at a fast trot. The figures and animals in this canvas belong to J. Lingelbach.
Berchem and Two who painted in his Style.—Johannes van der Bent (1650-90) was a pupil of Ph. Wouwermans and A. van de Velde; but he also imitated the style of N. Berchem. He has an Italian Landscape in which a shepherdess is milking a goat in the foreground, with another woman and a boy near her; farther on are a white horse and cattle. The mountainous background has a cascade as usual. Berchem is not strongly represented here,—only by A Grotto: a woman and two men, one mounted on an ass, are driving cattle over a ford. On the right, a shepherd is driving a flock of sheep; there are high mountains in the distance. Dirk van Berghen has also a Landscape and Animals in this style with mountainous and woody perspective.
J. Both's Italian Landscape: Evening.—Johannes Both has another of his pictures here that shows the influence of Claude Lorraine. In the Italian Landscape: Evening, the left foreground is occupied by tall trees; a chariot is drawn by two oxen along a road leading to an old tower; on the horizon is a town on the sea-shore.
P. Bout's Italian Seaport.—Pieter Bout (1658-1702) almost always worked in collaboration with N. Boudwijns, for whose landscapes he supplied figures. Works exclusively his own are very rare. He belonged to the Flemish-Italian school, and has here a busy and lively Italian Seaport in the style of J. B. Weenix. It is signed and dated 1669, which hardly agrees with the date given for his birth unless he was very precocious.
Other Painters in the Same Group.—In this group also we might include Gerrit Claes Bleecker (d. 1656), whose work recalls Elzheimer and his followers. His Saul on the Road to Damascus is classical rather than Biblical in sentiment, and the landscape is Italian.
Weenix's Tobias Sleeping under a Vine.—The same may be said of the charming Tobias Sleeping under a Vine by J. B. Weenix. In this there is a house on the right, against the wall of which is a vine under which Tobias is sleeping. A magpie is flying above his head, and beside him are various objects such as this artist loved to paint,—vegetables, a great copper milk pan, a yoke, harness, and other things, including a basket of grapes and an earthen pitcher. In the background a man is mounting a ladder. The picture is signed and dated 1662, two years before the painter's death.