Innovation in 17th Century Landscape Painting
and
the Hudson River School
•Art flourished/extraordinary number and quality of paintings.
•Coincided with beginning of Dutch dominance in the rich trades.
•1602 Dutch East India Company (VOC) trade with Asia/world’s
biggest trade and transport enterprise.
•1621 Dutch West India Company (WIC) trade with West Africa
and America.
•Despite wars/ Netherlands became powerful and prosperous.
•Dutch invented an independent artistic tradition.
Specialization of Genres
•Painters began to specialize to keep up with increased demand
without sacrificing quality
•Northern Influx of talented Flemish artists
•Dutch artists turned to their own landscape upon winning their
independence
• Esaias van de Velde and Jan van Goyen
•New vision of Landscape/ Coming down to Earth
•Different in subject matter and form than in any other European
culture
•Innovative paintings of local Dutch coasts, streams, fields, skies, cities
•highlight plain, productive character of Dutch people and land
Masters of Tonal Painting
•
Esias van de Velde/ important role in development of landscape
painting in the 17th century
•
His Ferryboat set the tone for a long tradition of Dutch landscape
painting
•
First instance of a typical Dutch river landscape in a large format
•
Pupil Jan van Goyen along with Solomon van Ruysdael developed the
genre further
•
Became masters of tonal painting
•
Developed new and simplified compositions
Specialization within landscape genre
•
Tremendous innovation
•
Repetition of subject matter & motifs
increased skill, speed, profit
•
Jan van Goyen-rivers and polders
•
Aaert van der Meer-nocturnal pieces
•
Jan Porcellis-the raging sea
•
Phillip Konnick- original majestic panorama
•Overarching innovative concept/began focus on natural environment
•Seemingly realistic likeness
•Rapid development during 1st three decades of 17th century
•Realism replaced idealism
•Landscape prominent subject/ no longer just a background
•Fantasied mountain landscapes made way for natural looking landscapes
•Rooted in Claes Jansg Visscher’s natural looking etchings
•Inspired by Flemish masters Joachim Patinir & Pieter Breugel the Elder
•Shift from historical, allegorical, and biblical to the Durch natural
environment began in Haarlem
•Innovations in color palette and compositional devices and
technique
•New sketchy execution
•Left some ground showing
•Limited palette/ tonal
•Less labor intensive techniques
•Produced large volume quickly
•Commanded lower prices (20 guilders per painting)
•Revenues substantial/ high turnover
•Though landscape paintings were considered in the middle tier of
Hoogstraten’s hierarchy of genres they were one of the most
affordable.
•Became very popular
•Large numbers of tonal landscape paintings were created.
•Seemed to fluctuate with market forces.
•By mid Century, landscapes were the most widely produced and
collected category of painting.
•Prices and availability made landscape paintings the art form of
the middle class.
•Stylistic development/ close discussion of artists and paintings
•Cultural association/hidden meanings/symbolism
•Simon Shuma- historical, geographical, and cultural associations
•Josua Bruyn-pictorial and literary sources/ iconographic skeleton
•Verisimilitude (truthful depictions)
naer het leven
uyt den ghest
stock images, sketches
•Protectionist Guilds and open market
•After 1660 popular taste favored luxury over unadorned nature
•Paintings no longer looked identifiably Dutch
Figure 1- The Ferryboat
Esaias van de Velde 1622
Figure 2- After the Rain
Jan van Goyen 1631
Figure 3- Landscape with a Fence
Solomon van Ruysdael 1630
Figure 4- Stone Bridge
Rembrandt van Rijn Late 1630’s
Figure 5- River Landscape
Aelbert Cuyp 1655-60
Figure 6- Haarlem Bleaching Fields
Jan van Ruisdael 1670
Figure 7- The Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede
Jacob van Ruisdael 1670
Figure 8- Avenue at Middleharnis
Meindert Hobbema 1689
Hudson River Painters/ early 19th century America
•Stylistically the Hudson River Painters followed the Dutch landscape
painters.
•Sky once again treated as an essential part of landscape
•Between 1825 and 1875/ group of painters created landscapes of Hudson
River Valley and beyond
•Influenced by European painting but set out to make theirs distinctly
American
•Mission: create American landscape vision based on exploration of
Nature
•Natural world/resource for spiritual renewal and expression of culture
and national identity
•
Launched by Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, and Thomas Doughty
•
Created monumental paintings with majestic luminous light
•
Captured grandeur of American landscape
picturesque and wilderness
•
Influenced conservation & preservation/travel & recreation
•
Second generation more idealized, romantic with more luminosity
George Inness, Frederick Church, Albert Bierstadt
Figure 9- Oxbow
Thomas Cole 1836
Figure 10- Kindred Spirits
Asher B. Durand 1849
Figure 11- Mount Katahdin from Millnocket Camp
Frederick Church 1895
The following ink and watercolor illustrations were done by
NEH Summer Seminar participant, Martha Kempe, while
in the Netherlands. Throughout the year she plans to
create oil paintings based on these, her photographs, and
wonderful memories of the Netherlands.
Amsterdam Canal
Rembrant’s House
Zuiderkerk
Waag
Amsterdam’s only remaining gatehouse
Houses along the canal
Keizersgracht emperor’s canal
The three neck gables
Koninklijk Paleis
Begijnhof of Amsterdam
With special thanks to Professor Koot and the National Endowment of
Humanities for making this wonderful opportunity possible.