DOI Artikel:
Benesz, Hanna: Gillis van Coninxloo and his Disciples: three recently attributed landscapes from the National Museum in Warsaw
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18947#0048
5. Jacques van der
Wyhen, iandscape
with on Allee,
River, and Castle
on fhe Water,
fragment with
the signature,
Muzeum Narodowe,
Warsaw
(Phot. Teresa
Żóltowska-Huszcza)
attribution, this description, with reservations, accompanied the painting for
many years in the MuseunTs Gallery of Foreign Painting.
A work of great painterly beauty, the canvas depicts an allee bordered by
oaks in which an elegant couple is strolling with a dog. The path turns and -
in a steep slope - descends toward a river. The lady indicates with a gesture
of a hand toward its bank, overgrown with reed-like plants with lanceolate
leaves and white flowers. On the other bank of the river at the bottom of the
mountain a mili is visible, with two sheep in front of it; farther on a woman
is busy doing laundry and a fisherman is seated on a narrow footbndge. The
white spots of other sheep lead the eye toward the buildings on the river bank,
finally fixing attention in the centre of the composition on a picturesque little
castle, a dwelling tower, which shoots up to the top with sharp helmeted little
spires and the steep roof of the main mass of the building.
The view is closed in an artful way from both sides with trees, whose
branches bend under the weight of the leafy richness, falling gracefully toward
the centre of the composition. It is precisely the trees here that form the main
decorative element, their noble and elegant monumentality contrasting with
the Iow horizon and the large expanse of sky. Naturę as presented here bears
the mark of human activity, of man who changes and shapes it with works
created by his hand. Citing Białostocki, it can be described as “elite naturę,
viewed from the Windows of the castle, treated as a symbol of carefree 9
9 J. Białostocki, “Narodziny nowożytnego krajobrazu”, in Narodziny krajobrazu nowożytnego
1550-1650, exhibition catalogue, National Museum in Warsaw, Warszawa 1972, p. 11; German
edition Enropaische Landschafstmałerei 1550-1650, Albertinum, Dresden 1972.
42
Wyhen, iandscape
with on Allee,
River, and Castle
on fhe Water,
fragment with
the signature,
Muzeum Narodowe,
Warsaw
(Phot. Teresa
Żóltowska-Huszcza)
attribution, this description, with reservations, accompanied the painting for
many years in the MuseunTs Gallery of Foreign Painting.
A work of great painterly beauty, the canvas depicts an allee bordered by
oaks in which an elegant couple is strolling with a dog. The path turns and -
in a steep slope - descends toward a river. The lady indicates with a gesture
of a hand toward its bank, overgrown with reed-like plants with lanceolate
leaves and white flowers. On the other bank of the river at the bottom of the
mountain a mili is visible, with two sheep in front of it; farther on a woman
is busy doing laundry and a fisherman is seated on a narrow footbndge. The
white spots of other sheep lead the eye toward the buildings on the river bank,
finally fixing attention in the centre of the composition on a picturesque little
castle, a dwelling tower, which shoots up to the top with sharp helmeted little
spires and the steep roof of the main mass of the building.
The view is closed in an artful way from both sides with trees, whose
branches bend under the weight of the leafy richness, falling gracefully toward
the centre of the composition. It is precisely the trees here that form the main
decorative element, their noble and elegant monumentality contrasting with
the Iow horizon and the large expanse of sky. Naturę as presented here bears
the mark of human activity, of man who changes and shapes it with works
created by his hand. Citing Białostocki, it can be described as “elite naturę,
viewed from the Windows of the castle, treated as a symbol of carefree 9
9 J. Białostocki, “Narodziny nowożytnego krajobrazu”, in Narodziny krajobrazu nowożytnego
1550-1650, exhibition catalogue, National Museum in Warsaw, Warszawa 1972, p. 11; German
edition Enropaische Landschafstmałerei 1550-1650, Albertinum, Dresden 1972.
42