Minneapolis Institute of Art

View of Heemstede

Jacob Cats

Date

1779

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash, on white laid paper

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Dutch artist Jacob Cats specialized in landscape, often executing paintings and drawings of this subject in meticulous detail. Here he depicted a wooded street in Heemstede, a small village five kilometers south of Haarlem. Cats represents the dappled light coming through the trees on a bright, sunny day to beautiful effect. Humorously, a dapper figure is caught by the artist in the act of relieving himself against a brick wall on the left. Otherwise it is a sleepy afternoon. A pair of shepherds guide a flock of sheep along the road, some laundry dries on a line, and small groups of men gather in the shade to smoke and chat. /// We are grateful to Gajus Scheltema for clarifying the date and provenance of this drawing. Netherlands, Europe

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