Landscape with Women Gathering Reeds and a Milkmaid c.1657-60
Oil on canvas | 50.4 x 68.6 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 404623
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Berchem (1620-83) was the son and presumably pupil of Pieter Claesz, a Haarlem painter of down-to-earth still lives. He also studied with a variety of artists, including Jan van Goyen, and became a prominent member of the Haarlem artistic community, on one occasion travelling to Germany with fellow townsman, Jacob van Ruisdael. The last decade of his life was spent in Amsterdam. Berchem painted some northern forest landscapes (like the one of the later 1640s in Dulwich Picture Gallery) of a type which this training and milieu might lead one to expect. The majority of his work however is Italianate, either inspired by an undocumented visit to Italy, which can only have occurred between 1651 and 1653, or by exposure to the work of returning Italianates such as Cornelis van Poelenburgh, Pieter van Laer, Jan Both and Jan Asselyn, all of whom were back home by the mid 1640s. Comparison with other similar compositions, which the artist has dated, would suggest that this work was executed in the late 1650s. On a river bank in the foreground, three reed gatherers, a milkmaid with her churn on her head, and cattle, with further figures and animals behind; beyond, rocks bordering the river leading to a distant view of mountainous landscape.
Provenance
Acquired by George IV before 1806; recorded in the Anti Room, Ground Floor, at Carlton House in 1819 (no 141); in the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace in 1841 (no 142)
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Creator(s)
(framemaker)(nationality)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
50.4 x 68.6 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
72.2 x 90.4 x 5.8 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
Landscape with cattle, previously entitled