The main driving forces were a rich diversity in both Dutch society and its painted themes, and the popularity of paintings among the republic’s citizens. Visual art thrived.
Hobbema
From major fires lighting the night sky, a vegetable market, the elegant houses of the Golden Bend, City Hall with Atlas above, to the most picturesque synagogue in Europe.
From the end of the Thirty Years’ War, settlement of Cape Colony, the United East India Company as the largest in the world with a private army of 10,000, Vermeer’s Milkmaid, to invasion by France and decline in 1672.
Watermills by Jacob van Ruisdael and Meindert Hobbema, and a selection of windmills by Rembrandt, Jan van Goyen, and a later copy by John Constable.
A woman spinning in front of her bed, a view of a street, a waterfront, marketplace, boats on the river, canals, windmills, a sandy beach, clouds, and frozen rivers – everyday life in the Golden Age.
From Dürer in about 1500, through van Ruisdael, Hobbema, Vernet, Girtin, to Constable watermills were popular in landscape art.
From Hobbema in 1663 to Sisley in 1884, here are views of the canals of Europe carrying commercial traffic, and in their later decline.
He came to specialise in views of Lake Lucerne, but also painted some superb views of trees, and some chalets above Turner’s favourite Rigi.
One of Hodler’s early influences, Calame was very successful in painting “Swiss horrors” showing the Alps, storms, and raging torrents. They’re still awe-inspiring works.
When a landscape artist finds it hard to paint figures well, there is one good solution: work with a figurative painter. The results can be spectacular.
The Eclectic Light Company 