Aelbert Cuyp, 'A Herdsman with Five Cows by a River', about 1650-5

A Herdsman with Five Cows by a River

Aelbert Cuyp

Not on display

About the work

Overview

This small, evocative painting shows the work of Aelbert Cuyp at the peak of his maturity as an artist. It’s a picture full of light and reflections, transforming a simple view of a river at evening time into visual harmony.

Light puffy clouds lit by the evening sun drift overhead, leaving patches of shimmering water below that carry almost perfect reflections of boats, animals and distant trees. In a country greatly dependent on its cattle for its wealth, Cuyp has brought these magnificent beasts close to us, giving them as much character as – and much more significance than – the people around them.

In-depth

Light puffy clouds, lit here and there by the evening sun, drift overhead, leaving patches of shimmering water below that carry almost perfect reflections of boats, animals and distant trees. The wide curve of the small boat that carries two fishermen is echoed in the sweeping downward curve of the high sand dune on the right, framing the scene between them. Tucked into the shelter of the dune, a herdsman squats on his haunches and one of his animals turns towards him with an enquiring gaze.

The depth of colour is at its richest in this corner of the picture, giving the cows weight and substance, and a warm graininess to the sand dune behind them. You can almost hear the faint splash of a hoof stamping in the water or the swish of a tail as the evening midges begin to bite. In a country greatly dependent on its cattle for its wealth, Cuyp has brought these magnificent beasts close to us, giving them as much character as – and much more significance than – the people around them. The evening is so still that the man in the central boat a little way off needs oars as well as a sail to propel him. A glint of sunlight catches the curve of the hull, sweeping on up the arc of the sail.

Several Dutch artists who had been to Italy painted landscapes full of the soft light of the Mediterranean. Cuyp was probably the most important of the artists to be influenced by their work. He transferred this distinctive light to his Dutch scenes, giving them the soft radiance we see in this painting, and in the much larger, more ambitious A Distant View of Dordrecht, with a Milkmaid and Four Cows, and Other Figures (‘The Large Dort’) and River Landscape with Horseman and Peasants.

English travellers to Holland in the seventeenth century remarked with surprise that butchers, bakers, blacksmiths and cobblers adorned their homes with pictures. John Evelyn, the famous diarist, was surprised at the amount of money that even ‘a common farmer’ paid for a picture. This small painting might once have hung on the walls of a mansion belonging to a wealthy collector, but it also might have been hung in a humbler house – one where its theme would have appealed to the owner in a more personal way.

Key facts

Details

Full title: A Herdsman with Five Cows by a River
Artist: Aelbert Cuyp
Artist dates: 1620 - 1691
Date made: about 1650-5
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 45.4 × 74 cm
Inscription summary: Signed
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1871
Inventory number: NG823
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: Chrétien-Jean Nieuwenhuys

Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Bt
Frame: 18th-century French Frame

Provenance

Perhaps in the Nogaret sale, 1780: ‘Albert Cuyp. Une Marine: on voit à gauche un canot dans lequel sont deux hommes, dont un pêche à la ligne; en pleine mer plusieurs chaloupes; à droite, au bas d’une masse de rochers, cinq boeufs gardés par un pâtre; effect de soleil. Bois. Seize pouces sur vingt-sept.’ (1,350 livres: sold to the Vicomte de Choiseul); this is presumably the painting by Cuyp in the 1793 Choiseul-Praslin sale: ‘A. CUYP. Six Vaches près de la Meuse ornée de barques, et deux matelots qui s’amusent à pêcher. Bois. Seize pouces et demi sur vingt-neuf (2,350 livres).’ Sold in 1822 by John Smith to Joseph Barchard (400 gns); it is perhaps the ‘Landscape, with Cattle and Figures’ by A. Cuyp exhibited by Joseph Barchard at the BI, 1822 (No. 128). Apparently at one time in the possession of C.J. Nieuwenhuys. Bought by Sir Robert Peel, Bart., by 1834; purchased with the Peel collection, 1871.

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.

Exhibition history

2009

Turner and the Masters

Tate Britain

23 September 2009 - 31 January 2010

Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais

22 February 2010 - 24 May 2010

Museo Nacional del Prado

22 June 2010 - 19 September 2010
2012

The Comte de Vaudreuil: Courtier and Collector

The National Gallery (London)

7 March 2012 - 12 June 2012

Bibliography

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
1844

A.M. Jameson, Companion to the Most Celebrated Private Galleries of Art in London: Containing Accurate Catalogues, Arranged Alphabetically, for Immediate Reference, Each Preceded by an Historical & Critical Introduction […], London 1844
1907

C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
1960

Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
1975

S. Reiss, Aelbert Cuyp, London 1975
1978

K.J. Müllermeister, Meer und Land im Licht des 17. Jahrhunderts, Bremen 1978
1983

C. Brown, 'Rubens' Watering Place: An Examination of His Landscape Technique', Ringling Museum of Art Journal, 1983, pp. 130-49
1991

Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
1993

A. Chong, Aelbert Cuyp and the Meanings of Landscape, Ann Arbor 1993
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.

Images

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(Showing 6 of 11 works)

A Hilly Landscape with Figures

Aelbert Cuyp

The scarlet coat of the horseman catches our attention and we instinctively follow the direction of his whip, which he points away into the distance. And the concept of distance – just as much as the animals and figures in the foreground – is at the heart of this painting. Aelbert Cuyp has constr...

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A Landscape with Horseman, Herders and Cattle

Aelbert Cuyp

We're looking at a landscape in the Low Countries, probably the flatlands between Nijmegen and Cleves in the eastern part of the Netherlands, which Cuyp had visited in the early 1650s. But the golden light, and that implied heat, is more reminiscent of southern Europe than the north. It was a com...

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A River Scene with Distant Windmills

Aelbert Cuyp

Aelbert Cuyp made this painting when he was aged about 20 or 21 and it shows his early grasp of how to create a sense of distance and evoke the atmosphere of a cloudy day in the Low Countries.At the time, Cuyp was much influenced by the landscape painter Jan van Goyen. Both artists used a very re...

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Peasants and Cattle by the River Merwede

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It is the animals which take centre stage in this picture. On a grassy riverside knoll, four cows and a magnificent jet black horse are spotlit by the warm afternoon sun. Aelbert Cuyp was a brilliant painter of these beasts, especially cattle. He knew exactly how to convey their languor and ponde...

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Portrait of Cornelis van Someren

Aelbert Cuyp

Aelbert Cuyp is famous for his landscapes but he also painted a small number of portraits, of which this is a rare example. For some time it was believed that the sitter might be Cuyp’s father, Jacob, a portraitist who taught his son to paint. However, it is now believed to depict Cornelis van So...

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River Landscape with Horseman and Peasants

Aelbert Cuyp

Clear, soft light illuminates a peaceful landscape, giving a sense that everything is in its place and all’s well with the world. But the rider’s attention is caught by a young lad who seems to point anxiously towards something likely to disturb the tranquillity. Crouched in the bushes on the lef...

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The Large Dort

Aelbert Cuyp

Cows often feature in pastoral landscapes, but it is rare for them to be given quite such heroic status as the four monumental brown beasts which dominate the foreground of this large canvas. They relegate the shepherd to the hill and the milkmaid, who funnels the results of her labour into a bra...

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The Maas at Dordrecht in a Storm

Aelbert Cuyp

Aelbert Cuyp is best known for landscapes which evoke a strong sense of peace, plenty and prosperity. This picture, which is probably an early work, is very different. It is defined by the lightning which flashes across the sky above Cuyp’s home town of Dordrecht. It captures an instant – the mom...

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The Small Dort

Aelbert Cuyp

This painting is very similar to but roughly half the size of another landscape by Aelbert Cuyp, also in the National Gallery’s collection: A Distant View of Dordrecht, with a Milkmaid and Four Cows, and Other Figures. We don't know which was painted first but presumably one of Cuyp’s customers s...

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Ubbergen Castle

Aelbert Cuyp

The ruins of this castle seem to have been absorbed by the landscape. Aelbert Cuyp has employed the same palette of colours and the same camouflage patterns to depict the crumbling walls as he used for the autumnal woods and the hillside behind. The reflections in the still waters of the lake add...

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A Herdsman with Seven Cows by a River

Imitator of Aelbert Cuyp

This peaceful rural idyll is possibly a copy of an unknown painting by the great Dutch landscape painter Aelbert Cuyp. It may even be a pastiche imitating his style by Jacob van Strij, who painted such pictures.The vast sky and the distant windmill, water and trees are typical of Cuyp’s view of t...

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You've viewed 6 of 11 works

Aelbert Cuyp, 'A Herdsman with Five Cows by a River', about 1650-5

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Exhibition history

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Aelbert Cuyp