Meindert Hobbema

Meindert Hobbema Wooded river landscape with figures on a path Oil on wood (parquetted). 54.2 x 71 cm. Signed with initials and dated lower right: MH F/1659. Provenance Monden Collection, Wiesbaden, until 1923 - Auction Muller, Amsterdam, 10.7.1923, lot 118 - Goudstikker, Amsterdam, 1926 (cat. 30, no. 71). - A. C. Mees, Amsterdam, 1926 - 1947 - B. Hoos, Wassenaar, 1947 - 1956 - European private collection. - Gallery Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder, The Hague, c. 1985, acquired there by a Dutch private collector. Exhibitions The Hague, Pulchri Studio, Goudstikker Collection, 13.3- 4.4.1926 (cat. 30, no. 71). - Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans-van-Beuningen, Christmas exhibition, probably 1943. Literature G. Broulhiet: Meindert Hobbema, Paris 1938, p. 427, cat. No. 368, illus. p. 286 - K. E. Simon: Review of Broulhiet, in: Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 9, 1940, p. 207. Little is known about the Amsterdam artist's early creative period. All the more reason why the present river landscape, dated 1559, is an important milestone on Hobbeema's path to becoming the most important Dutch landscape painter of the 17th century alongside Jacob van Ruisdael. The impressive painting of a Dutch dune landscape, monumental in its composition, was created shortly before Jacob van Ruisdael testified in 1660 that Hobbema had "served and studied with him for several years". Interestingly, Ruisdael's influence on Hobbema's work only became more apparent around 1662, and only for a short time, as Wolfgang Stechow has already noted (Dutch Landscape Painting of the Seventeenth Century, London, 1968, p. 60). From 1657 to 1661, Hobbema was still painting in the tradition of earlier masters such as Salomon van Ruysdael and Cornelis Vroom. The feathery foliage of the trees in a river landscape from 1558 (Detroit Institute of Art), for example, is still strongly reminiscent of works by Cornelis Vroom. The influence of Jacob van Ruisdael is noticeable in the present work. This can be seen in the composition, which is determined by a diagonal path running between majestic trees and a grove; also in pictorial elements such as the pond and its vegetation in the foreground, the lighting, which artfully distributes shimmers of sunlight and makes the silhouettes of the tree trunks appear. Our picture can be compared, for example, with Ruisdael's "Edge of a Forest with a Field of Grain" from 1655 in the Kimbell Art Museum. In the painting "Wooded River Landscape with Figures on a Path", Hobbema presents himself as an independent artist whose style differs from that of his teacher. Hobbema's view of nature is brighter, more colorful and livelier. His compositions are more expansive and gain greater freedom, his style is more fluid. Unlike Ruisdael's melancholic and sometimes dramatic compositions, Hobbema's works show a gentler aspect of the Dutch landscape. In the present painting, the flowing light conveys the peace and tranquillity of a sunny afternoon in a Dutch landscape, opening up the row of trees to a view of a meadow and the sun-drenched dunes beyond. The wandering figures on the country road are also typical of Hobbema's work. Some bold red accents in the figures' clothing create a striking effect. In 1668, the 30-year-old Hobbema took on the position of official wine measurer for the city of Amsterdam, overseeing deliveries to and within the city. This position provided him with a regular and ample income, something that many painters of the Golden Age lacked. Painting was no longer the focus of his work. Nevertheless, he created further masterpieces in the following years. Paintings by Hobbema are rare on the market. Most of his works can be found in private collections. Almost every major museum has a Hobbema on display, from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Mauritshuis in The Hague, the National Gallery in London, the Musée du Louvre in Paris to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.