Aert van der Neer, 'A View along a River near a Village at Evening', 1660s

This is one of Aert van der Neer’s largest paintings. A river takes centre stage, stretching into the middle distance beyond the lifting bridge and reflecting back the slanting light of an evening sky and the darker shadows of the boats and trees.

These effects and this mood are typical of van der Neer’s work, but usually his views are much more open; this painting has a rather more secretive feel. We can see the houses on each bank only obliquely between the trees and hedges, catching a glimpse of the occasional fancy gable, an elaborate entrance gate and, on the far left, a smart garden pergola. Among all these impressive residences the only building of which we are given a clear view is a wooden privy which sits on stilts above the water just to the left of the tree. There is more lavatorial humour in the foreground, where one dog is busy sniffing another.

The figures in the painting represent different social classes. The group on the left are expensively dressed. The man who bends forward to examine the dead hare held by the huntsman is wearing rhyngrave style, which is characterised by his very full ‘petticoat’ breeches, gathered at the knee and decorated with looping ribbons. You can see another even more extravagant example of this costume in Portrait of a Young Man by Gerard ter Borch. It not only establishes the figure in van der Neer’s painting as wealthy and fashionable, it also helps us date the picture to about 1660–5, since this fashion did not appear until after 1660.

There is another knot of well-dressed people on the right bank near the bridge, but the other figures in the picture are all working people. A milkmaid walks away from us on the left bank, three men are all busy with their boats and, on the right, a peasant family walks with their ox. The man is blowing a horn which is what may be attracting the attention of the lady gesturing at him from the bench on the opposite side of the river and the huntsman’s dog who lifts its head to look in that direction.

The arms of Amsterdam are on the stern of the trekjacht in the foreground, which has a Dutch flag furled at the stern and an orange and white pennant at the masthead. This was a small cargo or passenger vessel drawn by a horse, which travelled along the canals between towns. This one also has leeboards and a full rig, so it could also have been sailed.

There is some evidence from early sales catalogues that the painting may be a view of Maarssen, which is on the River Vecht about five miles from Utrecht. However, it does not match up with any known contemporary prints or paintings of this area, and van der Neer seems to have rarely depicted actual places. So it’s possible that we see an idealised reminiscence of the Vecht, which had many comparable reaches lined with houses. Less probably, this may be a view of the River Amstel.