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Philips Koninck, 'An Extensive Landscape', about 1670

About the work

There’s a delight in letting your eye wander across the vast landscapes of Koninck’s paintings and suddenly coming upon one of the tiny details within. In the foreground here, but still far away, are assorted animals and assorted people, some working, some chatting, some idling away the remaining sunny hours. Away among the trees are churches, pavilions, towers and humbler dwellings. In the shadows there’s a bridge crossing a river to a windmill. Further off, the sun catches a lake with a town on its banks.

Koninck was a specialist in these expansive, usually imaginary, landscapes, to which he brought an unprecedented grandeur and tranquillity. The animals and figures here were probably done by Adriaen van der Velde. Artists collaborating like this – one painting the landscape and another the figures – was a normal practice at the time.

Key facts

Full title
An Extensive Landscape with Houses in a Wood and a Distant Town
Artist
Philips Koninck
Artist dates
1619 - 1688
Date made
about 1670
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
101.5 × 146.5 cm
Acquisition credit
Bought with contributions from the Benson family and the Art Fund, 1927
Inventory number
NG4251
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 Philips Koninck

An Extensive Landscape with a Hawking Party
An Extensive Landscape with a Hawking Party
Philips Koninck
In this enormous painting, Philips Koninck shows us a panorama of the Dutch countryside under a vast sky. What seems an almost deserted stretch of land is actually peopled with many figures: the women washing clothes in the stream, a man fishing and a small figure brandishing a stick as he rides...
Not on display
An Extensive Landscape with a Road by a River
An Extensive Landscape with a Road by a River
Philips Koninck
This imaginary landscape in the flatlands of the Low Countries conjures a remarkably effective illusion of a vast panorama opening up before us. Koninck has used two particular techniques to create this effect. He’s made the figure in the middle ground the most prominent and painted the landscape...
Not on display
An Extensive Landscape with a Town
An Extensive Landscape with a Town
Philips Koninck
Philips Koninck, who is said to have been a pupil of Rembrandt, is known for his panoramic landscapes in which a road or a stream leads the eye into the far distance. This vast landscape seems strange and rather eerie under grey, lowering clouds.Although there’s no sun, a lone woman shields her e...
Not on display