Aelbert Cuyp - River Landscape with Horseman and Peasants [c.1658-60]

Aelbert Cuyp - River Landscape with Horseman and Peasants [c.1658-60], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting is one of the greatest 17th-century Dutch landscapes. It is the largest surviving landscape by Cuyp, and arguably the most beautiful. The entire scene is bathed in a gentle sunlight, harmonising all the elements, natural, animal and human. The quality of the light is Italianate. However, Cuyp never travelled to Italy, and he must have acquired this interest from Dutch contemporaries who did, such as Jan Both. This design is focused more directly on the landscape than in earlier paintings by Cuyp on the same scale, and the figures and animals are more minutely painted. The low sunlit mountains which dominate the peaceful scene are not a feature of the Dutch landscape, but based on mountains seen by Cuyp on his travels in the early 1650s. 

Cuyp was the son of the Dordrecht portrait and animal painter, Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp. Though based in Dordrecht throughout his life, Cuyp travelled widely in Holland, making drawings. In 1658 he married a wealthy widow and appears to have painted little thereafter.

[Oil on canvas, 123 x 241 cm]