Collection

Landscape with a Watermill

Meindert Hobbema

Basic information

ID: Ж-1643
Author: Meindert Hobbema
Name: Landscape with a Watermill
Date of creation: 2d half of the 17th c.
Country: Holland
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 52.5 x 71.5

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: landscape
Plot: Landscape
Provenance: Collection of Leon Pininski
Exposition: Potocki Palace

Information about author

Author: Meindert Hobbema
Artist's lifetime: 1638–1709
Biography: Meindert Hobbema was among Amsterdam's prominent landscape painting artists in the second half of the 17th century. In 1659, he met the landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael and began his study as a painter. Jacob van Ruisdael's works significantly influenced the artist's style. Meindert Hobbema initially followed his teacher's style but later changed to brighter colours. Meindert Hobbema specialised in forest views and landscapes with roads, ponds, and watermills.

Object description

The painting depicts a watermill near a small river with fishermen and a dog, a popular motif among Dutch landscape painters. Careful chiaroscuro modelling adds realism to the image, while active plastics of clouds reveal hidden drama. The landscape composition follows the widespread scheme typical of Dutch landscape painting in the 1640s and 1680s. According to it, the elements were grouped around the main central elements, such as watermills, groups of trees, hills, farmhouses, or huts. Meindert Gobbema is known for idealising landscapes to recreate the balance of life in nature.

Landscape with a Watermill

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