1638-1709 Dutch Meindert Hobbema Galleries In the exercise of his craft Hobbema was patient beyond all conception. It is doubtful whether any one ever so completely mastered as he did the still life of woods and hedges, or mills and pools. Nor can we believe that he obtained this mastery otherwise than by constantly dwelling in the same neighbourhood, say in Guelders or on the Dutch Westphalian border, where day after day he might study the branching and foliage of trees and underwood embowering cottages and mills, under every variety of light, in every shade of transparency, in all changes produced by the seasons. Though his landscapes are severely and moderately toned, generally in an olive key, and often attuned to a puritanical grey or russet, they surprise us, not only by the variety of their leafage, but by the finish of their detail as well as the boldness of their touch. With astonishing subtlety light is shown penetrating cloud, and illuminating, sometimes transiently, sometimes steadily, different portions of the ground, shining through leaves upon other leaves, and multiplying in an endless way the transparency of the picture. If the chance be given him he mirrors all these things in the still pool near a cottage, the reaches of a sluggish river, or the swirl of the stream that feeds a busy mill. The same spot will furnish him with several pictures. One mill gives him repeated opportunities of charming our eye; and this wonderful artist, who is only second to Ruisdael because he had not Ruisdael's versatility and did not extend his study equally to downs and rocky eminences, or torrents and estuaries - this is the man who lived penuriously, died poor, and left no trace in the artistic annals of his country. It has been said that Hobbema did not paint his own figures, but transferred that duty to Adriaen van de Velde, Lingelbach, Barendt Gael, and Abraham Storck. As to this much is conjecture.  Related Paintings of Meindert Hobbema :. | Cottages beside a Track through a Wood | The Alley at Middelharnis | The Avenue at Middelharnis | The Watermills at Singraven near Denekamp | Avenue at Middelharnis |
Related Artists:
Archibald M Willard
1836-1918 Archibald M Willard Gallery
Edwin long,R.A.
1829-1891 .English painter. He was taught by John 'Spanish' Phillip and began his career painting portraits and Spanish subjects, such as Dialogus diversus (1873; priv. col., see Quick, p. 10). However, he became successful and rich with very large historical and biblical subjects such as the Babylonian Marriage Market (1875; Egham, U. London, Royal Holloway & Bedford New Coll.), which changed hands in his lifetime for immense sums. His choice of subject-matter was indebted to the example of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, while his style closely resembles that of Edward Armitage. His success enabled him to commission two houses (1878 and 1887), both in Hampstead, from Richard Norman Shaw. He was elected ARA in 1876 and RA in 1881.
Vigilius Eriksen
(b Copenhagen, 2 Sept 1722; d Copenhagen, 23 or 24 May 1783). Danish painter, active also in Russia. He was apprenticed to the portrait painter Johann Salomon Wahl in Copenhagen. In 1755 he competed unsuccessfully for the gold medal at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen with a historical painting, Lot and his Wife (untraced). In a letter he complained that the rules did not allow him to enter a portrait, a genre more suited to his talents. Presumably in 1756 he completed the portraits of the registrar of the royal art collections, Lorenz Spengler and his Wife (Copenhagen, Stat. Mus. Kst).