Getty Museum
View of Duurstede Castle at Wijk bij Duurstede
Creator
Jan van GoyenDutch Artist · 1596–1656
All works by this person →Jan van Goyen began his apprenticeship at age ten and studied with six different masters. Only one influenced him deeply--Esaias van de Velde, a pioneer of naturalism in Dutch landscape painting. Van Goyen traveled frequently around the Netherlands and visited France. He painted river views and seascapes as well as city views and winter scenes. In 1632 he moved to The Hague, where he remained for
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1649
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Culture
- Dutch
- Department
- Paintings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
In Jan van Goyen's world, the sky goes on forever, the land is broad and flat, and the air is almost palpable. The water, nearly glass-smooth, reflects clouds, castle and boats gliding across it. A coach-and-four with red-coated coachman and passengers skates across on a ferry, lobster fishermen draw up their net, and cows complacently drink in the tranquility. A restrained palette of blue, silvery gray, and pale green envelops the castle of Wijk, making it seem more a fairy-tale place than an actual building near Duurstede, a town southeast of Utrecht where the Rhine forks. Van Goyen consistently showed skill in rendering nearly monochrome landscapes and recording the subtly shifting tonal effects of the moist Dutch air. This painting exemplifies a new phase of Dutch landscape painting established about 1630, which was distinguished by modest, domestic subject matter, a low vantage point, and a palette limited in color but richly varied in tone.
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