View from Dordrecht

A wide, low Dutch river landscape opens beneath a vast pearl-grey sky. The horizon sits very low — a strip of land and water, a few tiny boats, and in the distance the silhouette of Dordrecht with its great church tower rising above the river. Jan van Goyen (1596–1656) signed and dated the oak panel in 1655. He was the leading master of the ‘tonal’ phase of Dutch landscape, building his scenes from a narrow range of silvery greys, ochres and browns so that atmosphere and light, rather than drawn detail, carry the picture. The work, 66.8 × 98.2 cm, is held by the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.