An Extensive Landscape with a Hawking Party
- Artist: Philips Koninck
- Date: probably about 1670
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is the "An Extensive Landscape with a Hawking Party" painted in the Dutch north, around 1670. Philips Koninck depicts a serene and idyllic scene of the Dutch countryside under an expansive sky. What appears to be an empty stretch of land is actually populated with numerous figures, including women washing clothes in a stream, a man fishing, and a small boy riding a hobby horse.
To the left of the painting, a hawking party comes into view as they round a bend near a grassy mound. The elegant gentleman points across the countryside, accompanied by his servant carrying hooded hawks on a frame. A second servant hurries behind them, also with a hawk on his wrist and dogs running alongside.
The landscape is rendered in oil on canvas, characteristic of Dutch art from this period. Koninck's use of color and light creates a sense of depth and distance, drawing the viewer's eye towards the horizon.
See it in person
An Extensive Landscape with a Hawking Party 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.
