Louis Chalon

This charming panoramic landscape is a characteristic work of Louis Chalon, a North Netherlandish artist influenced by the works of Herman Saftleven and Jan Griffier. Rich with staffage and executed with an exacting precision, Chalon's idyllic views encapsulate the lush terrain of the Rhine valley. Here, Chalon conjours a bustling scene of merchants, voyagers, and townspeople along the banks of a calm river on a foggy afternoon. At right, a path winds uphill to an aging brick and wood building, perhaps a tavern or inn, by which several patrons linger with flagons and glasses in hand. Crowds converse and dance on the riverbanks below where a fiddler plays at center, and the silhouettes of mountains emerge from a hazy mist on the horizon.