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Lot Essay
This bustling composition is one of van Goyen's early dated works and counts amongst the finest examples of his youthful style, when winter landscapes formed a key part in his repertoire. With thick, rapid brushstrokes, the bright red, blue and green accents used to describe the figures' clothes and the thick impasto in the trees contrasts with the rather sombre tones of the middle and background, which is much smoother in execution. The tonality in the dynamic palette is still quite different to the monochromatic style he started working in from 1627 onwards. The style, conception and design can be closely compared with two similarly early winter landscapes, dated 1624, also showing moated castles, (Sutton, 2002, op. cit., pp. 100-5; Beck, op. cit., p. 17, no. 34) and attests to his continued admiration for his master Esaias van de Velde, under whom he studied between 1617 and 1618. It can be closely compared to his teacher's oeuvre, such as the Town by a frozen river, now in the Stedelijk Museum, Leiden (G.S. Keyes, Esaias van de Velde, Groningen, 1984, p. 383, no. 197). While van de Velde often depicted simple, humble farm buildings and villages, he has chosen to depict a castle, Montfoort, which performs an important role in anchoring the composition and is juxtaposed with the crowd and dispersed figures in the foreground.
Montfoort, situated between Leiden and Utrecht, is one of only a few identifiable secular buildings to feature in his compositions. Since it was almost completely destroyed by the French after their retreat in 1672, this painting also acts an important historical record. The castle appears in two other winter scenes by van Goyen, both of which show the moated castle from the other side: a roundel, datable to around 1624, a year before he painted the present panel, and a larger landscape which he executed ten years later, in 1634 (Beck, op. cit., nos. 20 and 38).
Montfoort, situated between Leiden and Utrecht, is one of only a few identifiable secular buildings to feature in his compositions. Since it was almost completely destroyed by the French after their retreat in 1672, this painting also acts an important historical record. The castle appears in two other winter scenes by van Goyen, both of which show the moated castle from the other side: a roundel, datable to around 1624, a year before he painted the present panel, and a larger landscape which he executed ten years later, in 1634 (Beck, op. cit., nos. 20 and 38).