Lot 2051 Dα

Jan van Goyen captures the vastness of the Dutch landscape in this painting, despite its smaller format. A river meanders into the distance, navigated by ships and dotted with windmills and lime kilns, drawing the eye to the silhouette of a town at the horizon. Only a small hill in the foreground, populated by a few figures, breaks the horizontal incline of the landscape.
The river depicted is probably the Spaarne, which flows west of Haarlem. Beck (op. cit.) associates the landscape with a chalk drawing from a sketchbook that once belonged to the eminent art historian Abraham Bredius (Beck, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 265ff). The sketchbook, which contains almost 100 drawings, has survived in its original form and is therefore revealing of Jan van Goyen's working methods. It was made during a walk in the surroundings of The Hague up to Haarlem and records entire landscapes, but also individual churches, farmsteads or ships. The sketchbook is dated to the second half of the 1640s; which would provide a terminus post quem for the creation of this painting.