beside the easel

Landscape with a farm near a lake, ca.1880's Born on June 19, 1824 in The Hague, Netherlands Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch was a Dutch landscape artist. Weissenbruch was heavily influenced by Dutch landscape Master Jacob van Ruisdael who was among the first of landscape artists to emphasize clouds as a key component to the composition and mood of his paintings. Weissenbruch is in fact quoted as saying that " painters can never pay too much attention to the sky. " Often bucolic in theme with Impressionist brushwork, Weissenbruch's work is characterized by the use of light and how it defines the landscape itself. Weissenbruch seemed to prefer a limited palette that often emphasizes greens and greys while using warmer colours more as accents. In Landscape with a farm near a lake above, the brushwork is so loose it appears dream-like, and the hazy reflection of the trees and sky in the lake seem to immerse us in this view as if we are standing in this very...

The Three Droves, 1656 Born October 1, 1620 in Haarlem, Netherlands, Nicolaes Berchem was a Dutch landscape painter. Berchem is known for his strong use of light, lush verdant landscapes and elegant figures yet sadly, is not given due attention for his incredible gifts. Berchem was an incredibly prolific painter and also produced many etchings and drawings during his lifetime in Haarlem and Amsterdam. Although not exactly a household name, Berchem was highly esteemed in his day. He taught some of the leading Dutch artists of the Golden Age, including Karel Dujardin , Pieter de Hooch , Jan van Huchtenburg, and Jacob Ochtervelt among others. In The Three Droves above, Berchem's stunning light bathes this scene in romantic warmth. Judging by the greenish-yellow tone in the sky we see that Berchem glazed it in warm yellows, and the way that tree off to the right is silhouetted against that orange glow is breathtaking. He uses the warm tones as a motif throughout the painting, ...

Self-Portrait, 1887 Born March 3, 1853 in southern Netherlands, Vincent Van Gogh , the infamous Dutch Post-Impressionist artist, tortured soul and a key figure in Modern Art . Biographies abound in Van Gogh's dramatic and psychological personal life as a troubled man with mental health issues that lead to his own suicide at the young age of 37, but here I'd like to explore what makes Van Gogh unique as a painter. His brushwork and use of bold colors is the most expressive and powerful of arguably any artist in the history of Western Art. Although I cannot say I understand a lot of his work, in particular his portraits, flower arrangements and street scenes, nonetheless it is his use of color and paint that I find fascinating and worth delving further into. For those wishing to read more about his life, click here . Of his numerous self-portraits he painted, above is a legendary example of his idiosyncratic technique. Look up close and those seemingly neat arrangement of po...

The Vegetable Garden, ca.1885-1888 Anthonij (Anton) Rudolf Mauve was a Dutch painter born on September 18, 1838 in Zaandam, northern Holland. He was a leading member of the Hague School of painters in the late 1800's, and outside Holland not well-known except for his connection to Vincent Van Gogh , whom he influenced greatly. Mauve's work focused on rural motifs that captured the everyday farm-life under the often characteristic overcast skies that define Dutch landscape art and the Hague School, hence earning them the curious nickname the Gray School. Mauve's early art instruction were from more formulaic Dutch painters that Mauve sought to break free from into a more naturalist approach using color and mood to heightened effect. Action and composition were not the primary forces that motivated Mauve, but rather the way people moved, how they worked, and the scenic atmosphere under which they lived. Mauve would eventually evolve into another school or rather art col...

Bluff-bowed Fishing Boat on the Beach at Scheveningen, 1899 Jacob Hendricus Maris was a Dutch painter born on August 7, 1837 in The Hague, Netherlands. A key member of the Hague School , a group of Dutch landscape artists in the late 1800's known for their subdued, low-key palette, which gave them the nickname the Gray School . Not every single painting was gray, of course, but it was rather the way in which they used gray as inspiration for mood in depicting pastoral scenes. Clouds became the focal point instead of just a background element. Using gray to its fullest range, experimenting with temperature and values created beautiful and pensive landscapes that furthered the incredible work a couple of generations before in France with the Barbizon School and in particular the brilliant work of Corot . In Bluff-bowed Fishing Boat on the Beach at Scheveningen above, we quickly understand how Maris used gray to full effect. We can almost hear those seagulls hooting in the di...

Meridional Landscape with Horsemen and a Cart drawn by Oxen; in the Background the Ponte Lucano over the Aniene and the Plautii Tomb, ca.1652 Jan Dirksz Both was a Dutch landscape painter born in Utrecht around 1609. Known as an Italianate painter, i.e a painter of lush italian-style landscapes inspired by Claude Lorrain and almost always from imagination, or capriccio . Both was a pioneer of using the drama of Baroque chiaroscuro in his vivid landscapes. Also interesting is how Both often painted artists painting or drawing, as subjects in the paintings, which was a theme sometimes seen in the works of artists such as Piranesi, Pannini , and Bellotto among others. Whereas most vedute painters incorporated strong elements of architecture in their scenes, Both focused more on the geography and verdant foliage and how light changes the landscape. In the above painting you can see how Both uses a very warm palette, even in his blues. Look at how the clouds are painted with thic...

Marten Looten , 1632 by Rembrandt van Rijn July is a month in art history that has produced some of the most idiosyncratic, passionate, sensitive and rebellious artists of all time. If you don't believe me, consider these names: Rembrandt , Artemisia Gentileschi (and her father Orazio) , Camille Pissarro , Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot , Edgar Degas , Salvator Rosa ...all born in July. All rebellious in their own particular way. All brilliant. Let's explore a few of these great painters and find out why... Marten Looten was a wealthy Dutch merchant from Leiden who commissioned this portrait. Although understated compared to some of his less formal portraiture, Rembrandt creates here a likeness that is painted with such sensitivity and depth that those penetrating eyes, tight lips, and thick hands convey a person who breathes through the paint. Normally Rembrandt loved using texture in his sitter's clothing to describe and identify their very soul, yet here the ma...

Italian landscape, ca. 1645 Born around 1615 in Utrecht, Netherlands, Jan Dirksz Both was a painter and etcher whose dramatic landscapes influenced Dutch painting deeply. Both spent time in Rome and Venice where he discovered several Masters, including the vibrant landscapes of Claude Lorrain. Where Lorrain used Classicism heavily in his paintings, with Roman architecture and figures, Both concentrated more on the luminous effects of light and elevated trees to a noble kind of natural architecture. Both also created atmosphere and mood with perspective in a way that not only depicts a view, but invites us to share a beautiful moment of fleeting sunlight. In Italian landscape above, Both leaves much of the foreground in shadow, something most landscape painters would never do. Note how the light is coming from the far left, beyond the frame of the painting. Look at how it falls across the rustic path—Both creates a sliver of light where his figures stand, on horseback, pos...

Piazza Navona, Rome 1699 Caspar van Wittel was a Dutch veduta painter born on 1653 in Amersfoort, a medieval city in central Netherlands. He lived most of his life in Italy, specifically in Rome— becoming a member of the Accademia di San Luca— although he travelled all over the country. Wittel is considered among the very first to spur the veduta genre, even before Canaletto and Panini, making detailed studies from nature and pioneering the format we know today as the panorama, or wide-view of scenery. Affectionately known in his day as Gaspare degli Occhiali , (Caspar of the Eyeglasses) his views of the Italian countryside combined with beautiful architecture with local figures helped forge a rich , seductive genre that would have an immense impact on landscape art. In Piazza Navona above, (painted when Canaletto was about two years old) Wittel offers us a view that, even though we know it well to this day, here it still appears fresh and interesting to us. The cont...