In this quiet landscape scene, two men converse as they amble along a rutted road atop a low-lying dike that separates a verdant forest from the drainage canal at the edge of a Dutch polder. The substantial buildings, churches, and towers that rise dimly along the horizon may represent Amsterdam, Meindert Hobbema’s native city, but they are so distant that they barely intrude on the painting’s overriding sense of nature. The pale bluish-green tonality of the foliage is that of late spring, when the trees have filled out but their leaves have not yet reached full maturity. Soft pools of light suggest the freshness of the air as clouds gently flow across the Dutch sky.
The light and delicate quality of this work is characteristic of paintings executed by Hobbema in the late 1650s. Wolfgang Stechow was the first scholar to group this painting with other early works by the artist, including A River Scene (1658, Detroit Institute of Arts), largely because of the distinctive character of Hobbema’s signature at the beginning of his career: MHobbema (with the M and H joined). These two works are also comparable in the way light falling on tree-lined country roads illuminates figures traveling along them.
Although no formal records shed light on Hobbema’s early training, Jacob van Ruisdael (Dutch, c. 1628/1629 - 1682) testified in Amsterdam in July 1660 that Hobbema had “served and learned with me for a few years.” Nevertheless, the modest character of this landscape is strikingly different from the more robust landscapes Hobbema executed in the early 1660s as a result of Van Ruisdael’s influence. Thus, it would seem that Hobbema painted this work before he began his apprenticeship with Van Ruisdael, who had moved to Amsterdam from Haarlem in 1657.
Stechow suggested that the style of Hobbema’s early works harkened back to paintings by Jacob’s uncle Salomon van Ruysdael (Dutch, c. 1602 - 1670), who worked in Haarlem. Stylistic connections between these artists are particularly evident when viewing Hobbema’s A River Scene, which resembles in many ways Van Ruysdael’s early river views where trees arch over a receding river bank. However, no documentary evidence exists to suggest that Hobbema ever trained in Haarlem, and differences between their painting techniques would seem to preclude a direct artistic relationship. Unlike Salomon van Ruysdael, Hobbema applied rather thick impastos when painting foliage, and he did not articulate individual leaves as carefully as did the older master.
Although Hobbema’s earliest teacher is not known, it seems probable that he was from Amsterdam. The underlying concept of the Gallery’s Wooded Landscape with Figures owes much to the landscape drawings and etchings of the late 1640s and early 1650s by Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606 - 1669) (see, for example, Landscape with a Road beside a Canal). Rembrandt often depicted roads skirting wooded areas and waterways, and his drawings inspired a number of Amsterdam artists, including Philips Koninck (Dutch, 1619 - 1688) and Anthonie van Borssom (Dutch, 1629/1630 - 1677), who may have in turn influenced Hobbema’s approach to landscape painting at the beginning of his career.
X-radiography and infrared reflectography reveal that Hobbema thought creatively about how to compose his composition and render atmospheric effects, particularly around the trees. Over the ground layer, Hobbema painted an orange-tan imprimatura that served as a midtone throughout the composition. This layer is visible in many areas of the final composition, particularly along the water and in the foliage of the trees. Hobbema left a reserve for the trees when he painted the sky and subsequently sketched in tree trunks and branches in this area with a light brown paint. After the sky paint layer had dried, Hobbema added the tree trunks, branches, and foliage. Remarkably, in some areas of the foliage, Hobbema purposely revealed the orange-tan imprimatura by removing small amounts of the semidried paint with a tool, likely to enhance the atmospheric character of the scene and to create a greater sense of depth. Unfortunately, it is not known where Hobbema learned this distinctive painting technique, which has not been observed in the work of other landscape artists.
In Wooded Landscape with Figures, Hobbema was more interested in capturing the gentle rhythms of nature than in emphasizing the human presence in this pastoral world. His reticence to include many people, born of his own weakness as a figure painter, seemingly bothered a later, probably early 20th-century restorer who overpainted the foreground. To enliven Hobbema’s composition, the restorer added four cows and six sheep as well as a man and dog watching over them. When Russell J. Quandt conserved the painting in 1953, he removed this overpaint only to discover the three people and dog that Hobbema had included in his landscape. Strikingly, Hobbema’s figures originally did play an important compositional role. A small figure, barely discernable along the tree line near the curve of the dike, amplifies the suggestion of depth and distance. The two men in the middle of the road, one wearing a red jacket and one carrying a white sack on his shoulder, serve another important function. Not only do they provide an engaging pictorial accent that enhances the scene’s pleasant charm, but they also suggest those quiet moments of communication that are crucial in establishing the social bonds essential to human existence.
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.
December 9, 2019
