AERT VAN DER NEER | River landscape at sunset with a cottage and trees

Art market, Amsterdam, by 1955;
With Leonard Koetser, London, 1971;
With Van Rossum, Amsterdam, 1996–97;
With P. de Boer, Amsterdam, 2000;
With Jack Kilgore, New York.

W. Schulz, Aert van der Neer, Doornspijk 2002, p. 441, cat. no. 1282, reproduced fig. 203.

The single oak panel is uncradled, flat and stable. The paint surface is slightly dirty, and the varnish is discoloured. The paint surface is well preserved. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals the thick varnish beneath which it is possible to discern fine, horizontal lines of retouching through the sky along the wood grain, with a slightly more concentrated area centre left 1 x 2 cm., and a pin-prick retouching to a very small loss in the sky just left of centre. There are other small, scattered spot retouchings in the landscape, but the painting appears to be in overall good condition and will respond well to cleaning.
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From around 1640, Aert van der Neer’s works are marked by intense artistic experimentation as he explored the representation of landscape under the varying effects of light and atmosphere. As with many of Van der Neer’s works, the present panel is undated, and a chronology is not always easy to establish within his œuvre. It would appear, however, to fit with a group of small-scale paintings produced during the 1640s and early 1650s, featuring wooded, village landscapes and stretches of water with ferry or rowing boats, characterised by a preoccupation with the rendering of natural light. See, for example, a panel of similar dimensions, which depicts a Village in the evening with a canal and drawbridge, datable to circa 1645 (sold Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, 17 November 1980, lot 7).¹ This painting, which captures a peaceful, unhurried scene at sunset, may be regarded as part of Van der Neer’s exploration of mood as defined by specific times of day, that would ultimately lead to his refinement of the rendering of moonlit landscapes, for which he became best known.

1 See Schulz 2002, pp. 272-73, cat. no. 586, reproduced fig. 119.