Cuyp, Aelbert

Description:

Dordrecht 1620 - 1691
48,5 x 73 cm
River landscape in the evening light. Oil / cradled oak wood, lower left inscribed.
John Henderson, London, 1882; H.J. Pfungst, London, 1904; J.J. van Alen, "Rushton Hall", Kettering, London; The van Alen Family, "Wakehurst", Newport, Rhode island; Galerie J. Kraus, Paris; Collection Ferdinand III Mülhens, Köln.
The painting will be included in the catalogue raisonné which is currently edited by Dr. Alan Chong.
A few dark, ruffled clouds are still a reminder (top left) of the storm that has just passed. Above the far riverbank, the low sky reveals the last streaks of sunlight, the sails of the fishing boats are furled, the water is completely calm, a light haze rises from the river. For a moment, the landscape holds its breath. Then evening falls. Aelbert Cuyp has painted many such atmospheric pictures along the Meuse. The atmospherically softened work presented here was probably painted under the influence of Jan van Goyen, i.e. prior to 1645, before his colouring became stronger and, in his examination of the paintings of Jan Both, more Mediterranean and light-intensive.