Getty Museum
River Landscape
Creator
Philips KoninckDutch Artist · 1619–1688
All works by this person →Philips Koninck's peers admired his portraits, literary subjects, and genre scenes, but today he is best known for his landscapes. Born to a wealthy Amsterdam goldsmith, he apprenticed in Rotterdam with his elder brother around 1637 and by 1641 returned to Amsterdam. There he may have been a pupil of Rembrandt van Rijn, and Koninck's early work shows Rembrandt's influence. Koninck was well-to-do;
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1675
- Medium
- Watercolor and gouache
- Culture
- Dutch
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
With color and line, Philips Koninck integrated his composition and encouraged spectators to journey into it. He began with the wedge of land in the foreground: rivers, road, and fields converge on both sides, then gradually lead the viewer into the distance. Koninck also created depth through aerial perspective: color and tone fade as space recedes. In contrast to many Dutch artists of the 1600s who exploited watercolor's brilliant, jewel-like hues, Koninck chose a soft palette of buffs and browns, deep green, gray, and light blue. He also made extensive use of bodycolor, applying this opaque mixture thickly and loosely, particularly in the foreground. His gentle background blue and smoky chiaroscuro effects evoke the atmosphere of a bright but hazy day. In this extremely rare colored landscape drawing, Koninck achieved the expansive space and rich atmosphere of his panoramic landscape paintings. The flatness of the Netherlands inspired this landscape drawing, but the view is imaginary rather than topographic.
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