Aert van der Neer

Neer, Aernout van der

Dutch, 1603/1604 - 1677

Explore Selected Works

In almost complete darkness, we look across reeds and grasses lining a river spanned by narrow, arched, stone bridge ahead of us in this moonlit, horizontal landscape painting. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the painting, just over the footbridge, and the sky is filled with clouds that glow blush pink, flint gray, and lavender purple. The small, porcelain-white moon casts an opalescent gleam on the water under the arch of the bridge. Barely visible in the gloom, a walking path lined by a fence in the lower right corner leads to a copse of tall trees to our right. Closer inspection reveals a man wearing crimson red and a woman wearing pine green standing together near the gate of a walled enclosure beyond the trees. Moonlight glints on their white collars and cuffs, and on the gold buttons and embroidery on their clothing. Spires and buildings with stepped rooflines along the riverbank are outlined against the illuminated sky, though most of the details of the structures are swallowed in shadow.
Aert van der Neer, Moonlit Landscape with Bridge, probably 1648/1650, oil on panel, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 1990.6.1

Moonlit Landscape with Bridge

Aert van der Neer · probably 1648/1650 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1990.6.1

Dozens of people stand, skate, play a game like hockey, or ride horse-drawn sleds on a frozen river that winds along a town to our left and into the distance in this nearly square landscape painting. The horizon comes about a quarter of the way up the composition, and the sky above is filled with ivory-white clouds billowing up against a pale blue sky. Some of the men wear tall hats, hip-length capes over jackets, and breeches over stockings, while others are more simply dressed with rounded hats. Several of the women wear wide, pleated, plate-like neck ruffs, fur muffs, and long dresses, while others wear aprons over peanut-brown and muted blue dresses. The scene is alive with activity, including a man looking at us as he balances rakishly on one skate near the lower right corner, and a young girl sitting in a sled and pushing herself along with sticks nearby. The trees lining the snow-covered, riverside path are bare and the village to our left is painted in tones of pale tan and white. In the distance the snowy earth blends into the soft blue sky and fluffy clouds above. The artist signed the work as if he had painted his name and the date on the face of a wooden fence in the lower left corner: “AV DN 1645.”
Aert van der Neer, Winter in Holland: Skating Scene, 1645, oil on panel, Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection), 2014.136.37

Winter in Holland: Skating Scene

Aert van der Neer · 1645 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2014.136.37

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River Scene

Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Christian Josi · published 1821 · aquatint printed in black ink ·  Accession ID  1974.6.2.30

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Little Village by Amsterdam

Franz Edmund Weirotter, Pierre-François Basan · c. 1760 · etching on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2004.93.1.206

Bibliography

1753

  • Houbraken, Arnold. De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen. 3 vols. in 1. The Hague, 1753 (Reprint: Amsterdam, 1976): 3:172.

1907

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 8 vols. Translated by Edward G. Hawke. London, 1907-1927: 7(1923):323-473.

1966

  • Bachmann, Fredo. Die Landschaften des Aert van der Neer. Neustadt, 1966.

  • Stechow, Wolfgang. Dutch Landscape Painting of the Seventeenth Century. National Gallery of Art Kress Foundation Studies in the History of European Art, no. 1. London, 1966: 96-98, 176-182.

1970

  • Bachmann, Fredo. "Die Brüder Rafel und Jochem Camphuysen und ihr Verhältnis zu Aert van der Neer." Oud Holland 85 (1970):243-250.

1982

  • Bachmann, Fredo. Aert van der Neer. Bremen, 1982.

1987

  • Sutton, Peter C., et al. Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Landscape Painting. Exh. cat. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Philadelphia Museum of Art. Boston, 1987: 381-387.

1991

  • MacLaren, Neil. The Dutch School, 1600-1900. Revised and expanded by Christopher Brown. 2 vols. National Gallery Catalogues. London, 1991: 1:275.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 181-182.

2002

  • Schulz, Wolfgang. Aert van der Neer. Aetas aurea 18. Doornspijk, 2002.