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Lot Essay
This lively panel is an early work from Jan van Goyen’s Leiden period (1618-32). Having completed an apprenticeship in the Haarlem studio of Esaias van de Velde, van Goyen returned to his native Leiden in 1618. Van de Velde, who was six years van Goyen’s senior, had been the first Dutch landscapist to abandon the tendencies of an earlier generation of Flemish painters in favor of highly naturalistic landscape views. Van de Velde’s direct influence on his protégé can be seen in the younger artist’s works well into the 1620s, notably in his handling of space and atmosphere as well as his fluid application of paint.
This painting was probably directly inspired by van de Velde’s The Cattle Ferry (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), which was painted three years earlier and stands as the first monumental depiction of Holland’s flat, water-filled terrain. Like van de Velde, van Goyen organized his composition around a small river that bisects the land and a large ferry boat prominently placed in the painting’s foreground. Both paintings also feature an immense tree in the left foreground and a further copse of trees in the right middle ground which bracket the composition and guide the viewer’s eye to the river winding its way into the central distance.
The artist revisited the motif of the ferry on several occasions in 1625, five of which were known to Hans-Ulrich Beck (op. cit., pp. 112-115, nos. 233-235, 237 and 239). Several further examples from 1623-4 (ibid., pp. 105, 107, nos. 215a and 219; III, pp. 168, 170 and 229, nos. 224, 229 and 244a) and one from 1626 (ibid., III, p. 117, no. 243) testify to the clear impact van de Velde’s painting had on his student’s choice of subjects and point to the significant role that river landscapes would play in van Goyen’s later work.
This painting was probably directly inspired by van de Velde’s The Cattle Ferry (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), which was painted three years earlier and stands as the first monumental depiction of Holland’s flat, water-filled terrain. Like van de Velde, van Goyen organized his composition around a small river that bisects the land and a large ferry boat prominently placed in the painting’s foreground. Both paintings also feature an immense tree in the left foreground and a further copse of trees in the right middle ground which bracket the composition and guide the viewer’s eye to the river winding its way into the central distance.
The artist revisited the motif of the ferry on several occasions in 1625, five of which were known to Hans-Ulrich Beck (op. cit., pp. 112-115, nos. 233-235, 237 and 239). Several further examples from 1623-4 (ibid., pp. 105, 107, nos. 215a and 219; III, pp. 168, 170 and 229, nos. 224, 229 and 244a) and one from 1626 (ibid., III, p. 117, no. 243) testify to the clear impact van de Velde’s painting had on his student’s choice of subjects and point to the significant role that river landscapes would play in van Goyen’s later work.