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Jan van Goyen, 'A River Landscape', 1645

About the work

Time has not been kind to Jan van Goyen’s river landscape, and his soft muted colours have been dimmed under a coat of yellowed varnish. But we sense the tranquillity of the scene – the vast sky, the quiet ripple of the water under the small boat heading upriver and the patient cows cropping the grass close to us.

Passengers settle on the insubstantial-looking craft moored on the far bank, apparently unconcerned by the heavy wagon pulled by two horses on board. The little village between the trees seems to be a jumble of rooftops huddled together, culminating in the spire of the church piercing the clouds.

We don’t know if the painting depicts a particular Dutch village. It hasn’t been identified, but it is one of several versions of the same view painted by van Goyen during his career.

Key facts

Full title
A River Landscape
Artist
Jan van Goyen
Artist dates
1596 - 1656
Date made
1645
Medium and support
oil on wood
Dimensions
66 × 96.5 cm
Inscription summary
Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit
Bequeathed by Mrs S.F. Hodges, 1852
Inventory number
NG151
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection
Previous owners

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.

More works by Jan van Goyen

(Showing 6 of 10 works)
A River Scene, with a Hut on an Island
A River Scene, with a Hut on an Island
Jan van Goyen
This painting is a companion piece to Fishermen hauling a Net, which is exactly the same size and depicts a scene with three similarly positioned boats, a low horizon and high billowing clouds. However, the muddy island in the middle of this scene is more substantial and, as the title suggests, s...
Not on display
A River Scene, with Fishermen laying a Net
A River Scene, with Fishermen laying a Net
Jan van Goyen
Darkened varnish has taken its toll, and the true colours in Jan van Goyen’s painting are difficult to make out. The picture is almost entirely given over to a vast sky, but there’s enough movement below to capture the atmosphere of a busy autumn day on the river.A series of diagonal lines sweeps...
Not on display
A Scene on the Ice
A Scene on the Ice
Jan van Goyen
The cold is almost tangible in Jan van Goyen’s evocation of life on the ice in a seventeenth-century Dutch winter. The horizon is low and the sky vast, so we are on a level with the people portrayed. A bank of grey cloud hovers overhead, just moving enough to let in the pale sun and allow a glimm...
Not on display
A Scene on the Ice near Dordrecht
A Scene on the Ice near Dordrecht
Jan van Goyen
Barely a third of van Goyen’s painting of life on the ice in seventeenth-century Dordrecht shows people; the rest is sky. But he still manages to pack the picture full of incident and humour. Some people squeeze into horse-drawn sledges, while others zoom across the ice or stand and chat. Some pl...
Not on display
A Windmill by a River
A Windmill by a River
Jan van Goyen
Jan van Goyen’s painting – his view of the wide sweep of the Netherlandish landscape – is a poetic vision. Seen from a sandy rising, the horizon is low and the sky vast. Just a few birds wheel in the towering clouds.Van Goyen was very influential in the development of the ‘tonal phase’ of Dutch p...
Not on display
An Estuary with Fishing Boats and Two Frigates
An Estuary with Fishing Boats and Two Frigates
Jan van Goyen
Huge clouds float across a wide sky, seeming to dwarf everything below – even the two frigates heading way out to sea, sails raised, tall and majestic. Frigates were light warships that protected the giant merchant vessels that were the lifeblood of the new Dutch Republic, reaching out across th...
Room 23
You've viewed 6 of 10 works