In the fields behind the fishermen and farmers, hay is being harvested and cattle are grazing. On the left, people are playing dice at a hollow post mill. It is assumed that this painting was painted just outside Amsterdam; the couple in the middle are wearing clothing from the Waterland region. The jug that the woman is holding is made of German stoneware from the Westerwald. Imported, baked clay!
Arent Arentsz is a well-known Amsterdam painter, nicknamed Cabel. He lived in the 17th century and painted I like landscapes with fishermen, hunters and farmers. Arent Arentsz is represented in the collection of the Rijks with five paintings.
oil on panel, 26 x 51 cm
Thanks to J.W. Bilders, Oosterbeek grew into an artists village in the 19th century, the Gelderse Barbizon. This Bilders was the pater familias for painters such as Anton Mauve and Paul Gabriël, friends of his son Gerard Bilders.
Every year he celebrated his birthday with a large group of artists. This was done according to a fixed ritual. Bilders, dressed as a druid, led a procession to the heath and the oaks to honor Wodan and Thor. Hence the name Wodans- oaks, centuries-old oaks of which five are still standing standing. If there was a newcomer, Bilders personally baptized him in the stream.
oil on canvas, 103 x 153 cm
Today, Willem Maris paintings evoke a longing for the idyllic landscape of the past.
Willem Maris is the lyrical interpreter of the Dutch landscape. Although he himself said: “I do not paint cows but light”, cows at the edge of the ditch are still seen as his ultimate specialty.
oil on canvas, 49 x 100 cm
donation of M.C. Barones van Lynden-van Pallandt, The Hague
The cow is a national icon for the Netherlands. The grazing cow refers to the juicy land of free farmers. However, in the Netherlands the cow is increasingly associated with mega-stables, with ryegrass, with ammonia, with CO2.
In a conversation about the future of the Netherlands, the cow is no longer the most suitable icon. The cow is on the losing side, if the manure surplus becomes too much for us, if the sea level rises sharply and polders are depoldered, if less and less meat is eaten, if nature conservation becomes a more important value. We have to look for another animal.
An animal that is not only happy on land, but especially in the water and in the air. Now Willem Maris not only painted cows, but also ducks. The Rijksmuseum has several ducks by Willem Maris in its possession. Instead of the cow, the duck is perhaps a more suitable icon for the Netherlands. The duck is less associated with nitrogen and ammonia, is not a herd animal, does like to be in company and feels at home in the water, evokes warm feelings, symbolizes balance and trust, warmth and protection, grace and comfort.
Gerard de Kleijn
oil on canvas, 93 x 113 cm
donation of Mr. and Mrs. Drucker-Fraser, Montreux
His Polder after a storm is the wettest, freshest and most sparkling work that Jacob Maris ever painted. The precise brushstrokes suggest a rowing boat in the water and a mill on the horizon.
The sky reflects in the water and thus provides a familiar image that still exists in the Vecht lakes and the area near the South Holland North and Nieuwkoop.
Vincent van Gogh wrote: “A painting by Mauve or Maris or Israëls speaks more and more clearly than nature itself.”
oil on canvas, 54 x 62 cm
legacy of Mr. C.D. Reich
Old pianos sometimes still have them: the candlesticks to the left and right of the lid. Candles were needed to be able to read the score in the twilight.
oil on canvas, 36 x 22 cm
legacy of Mrs. A.E. Reich-Hohwü
Jac van Looij was a writer and painter. He lived in Soest and later in Haarlem. He is considered one of the minor masters. The Rijksmuseum owns four of his paintings, including the magnificent Zomerweelde.
The close-up Klaverbloemen immerses the viewer completely in nature. With your eyes and nose in the blooming clover. Taco Dibbits says about his favorite work: “It smells like youre lying in the meadow.”
oil on canvas, 39 x 46 cm
legacy of Mr. A. van Wezel, Amsterdam
As son of Johannes Warnardus, the twenty-year-old Gerard Bilders, aspiring painter, travelled through Switzerland on foot and by carriage.
He suffered from artistic homesickness there. “Switzerland is undoubtedly beautiful and grand, but when I think of the Gelderland landscapes and animals and the dark oak green, I feel in my heart that I am Dutch and want to paint Holland.”
Gerard Bilders died young, 27 years old. A year before his death he painted Goat Herder. In 1864 he wrote about it in a letter: “A painting that depicts an orchard, furnished with goats and a girl from Oosterbeek, has been causing me a great deal of trouble lately.”
oil on canvas, 28 x 43 cm
legacy of Mr. J.B.A.M Westerwoudt, Haarlem
From a cellar, Grote Oost 57, Hoorn.
Collection Westfries Museum, Hoorn