Jan van Goyen, Skating on the Merwede near Dordrecht. 1646

English, français, Nederlands

English

Skating on the Merwede near Dordrecht, by Jan van Goyen (Leiden 1596 - 1656 The Hague)

In 1638 Jan van Goyen went back to painting winter landscapes, a genre to which he made an essential contribution. The examples from the 1640s were executed almost in monochrome with a very few light touches of colour and sometimes, as in this painting, in an extremely sketchy way. The countless figures – skaters, kolf players, sleigh riders – are perfectly subordinated to the evocation of the wintry atmosphere. On the horizon is Dordrecht’s Grote Kerk, and nearer to the centre, almost at the vanishing point of the perspective, the tower of the Huys te Merwede can be distinguished, which had been standing isolated in the river since the St Elizabeth’s flood of 1421.

Oil on panel. 39.2 x 58.5 cm. Monogrammed and dated 1646

InstitutNêerlandais, Paris (collectie Frits Lugt)

Français

Patineurs sur la rivière Merwede, tableau par Jan van Goyen (1596 - 1656)

Au loin, à droite, la ville de Dordrecht.

Panneau. 39 x 58 cm. Signé des initiales VG et daté de 1646

Institut Nêerlandais, Paris (collection Frits Lugt)

Provenance

• Arthur Kay, 1907

• August Janssen, 1918

Nederlands

De Merwede bij Dordrecht, door Jan van Goyen 1646)

Olieverf op paneel. 11,4 x 19,4 cm

Institut Nêerlandais, Paris (collectie Frits Lugt)

Literatuur

• Catalogus: La vie en Hollande au XVIIe siècle, Paris 1967, No. 85