Wouwerman (Dutch: 1619-1668). See 878.
This picture was formerly in the collection of Queen Elizabeth of Spain, whose arms are stamped on the back. Sir Robert Peel bought it in 1823 for 450 guineas.
881. GATHERING FAGGOTS.
882. A LANDSCAPE.
Wouwerman (Dutch: 1619-1668). See 878.
883. A BEGGAR BY THE ROADSIDE.
Jan Wynants (Dutch: about 1615-1679).
Wynants—spelt also Wijnants—the painter of the sandy wayside, was one of the founders of the Dutch school of landscape, and was an artist of much originality. Out of a few docks and thistles, it has been said, a tree, and a sandbank, he could make a picture. "In the choice of his subjects Wijnants shows a preference," says Sir F. Burton, "for open scenery, where, under a sky of summer blue broken by illuminated cloud-masses, the undulating soil reveals its nature through beaten tracks and rugged roads with their shelving sides of gold-coloured sand, while trees are scattered thinly on the slopes. Or he loves the borders of the forest, where mighty tree-trunks, smitten by past storms, still extend some gnarled branches across the sky, or a fallen stem lies half imbedded amongst tall grasses and large-leaved plants. In such scenes Wynants is particularly attractive. They give us the poetry of form and light, as Ruisdael's deep pine-forests give us that of gloom and solitude." Of his life little is known. He was probably born about the year 1615, as his earliest pictures bear the dates 1641 and 1642. He was still living in 1679, as one of his paintings in the Hermitage of St. Petersburg bears that date. In October 1642 the registers of St. Luke's Guild at Haarlem mention a Jan Wijnants as dealer in works of art; this probably refers to the painter. He resided at Haarlem, and afterwards at Amsterdam. Wouwerman and A. van de Velde were among his scholars, the latter artist and others inserted figures in his pictures, for Wynants painted only landscape. The visitor will find good examples of him at Dulwich and Hertford House.
The picture is signed (on the trunk of the felled tree) and dated 1659. The figures in this and the next picture are ascribed to A. van de Velde.