Jan Wijnants, 'A Landscape with a High Dune and Peasants on a Road', probably about 1665
About the work
Overview
This painting is probably a collaboration between Jan Wijnants, who was a specialist landscape painter, and Jan Lingelbach, who added the figures and the animals once the landscape was finished. It was not unusual for painters to work in this way in seventeenth-century Holland.
What we see is probably not a specific location, but it is characteristic of the undulating fields and dunes between Wijnants' home town of Haarlem and the sea. He has probably adapted the view to help give an impression of distance, perhaps placing the stand of trees and the church, as well as the patches of sunlight and the billowing clouds, to enhance the sense of depth.
Lingelbach’s figures are also positioned for effect, and he uses patches of red and brown on their clothing to help them stand out. They lead our eye further into the landscape, while the silhouettes of two men and a dog on the top of the dune add a moment of drama against the turbulent sky.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Landscape with a High Dune and Peasants on a Road
- Artist
- Jan Wijnants
- Artist dates
- active 1643; died 1684
- Date made
- probably about 1665
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 40.9 × 53.7 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed
- Acquisition credit
- Wynn Ellis Bequest, 1876
- Inventory number
- NG971
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
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1830
J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
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1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
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1907C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
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1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
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1986National Gallery, 'Pictures Cleaned and Restored in the Conservation Department of the National Gallery, January 1985 - December 1985', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, X, 1986
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1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.