A Landscape with a Farm on the Bank of a River
- Artist: Jan Wouwerman
- Date: 1650-66
- Medium: oil on wood
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the "A Landscape with a Farm on the Bank of a River" painted by Jan Wouwerman. Created in the mid-seventeenth century, this painting seems to stand for the hard life led by farmers close to the sea in seventeenth-century Holland. Note how the landscape is depicted as bleak and rugged, yet there's a sense of warmth and leisure amidst all that gloom.
Look at those two men on horseback, seemingly chatting, bathed in sunlight. And nearby, a woman nursing her baby with another child beside her - it's a beautiful contrast to the harsh environment they're living in. Then there are the two men pointing out fishermen in a boat on the river... and further in the distance, two men surveying the mountains ahead.
Now, you might be wondering why there are mountains in this Dutch landscape. That's not because Wouwerman was trying to depict actual geography, but rather for artistic effect. There are no mountains in Holland, so he included them to add some visual interest to the scene.
Wouwerman was working in Haarlem at the time and was probably influenced by his brother Philips, who had been inspired by Pieter van Laer's work from Rome. You can see similar influences in Wijnants' landscapes as well - they're all part of a broader Dutch school of painting that explored themes of everyday life.
See it in person
A Landscape with a Farm on the Bank of a River hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
