A Wooded Landscape
A rutted, dirt road curves from the bottom center of the canvas toward and behind a grove of tall trees to our left, beneath a pale blue sky with fluffy white clouds that fills the top two-thirds of this horizontal landscape painting. The broad, green canopies of the trees to our left create deep shade over twisting trunks, shrubs, and grasses. A narrow stream meandering alongside the road to our left reflects the moss, pine, and sage greens of the leaves. The land rises in a sloping bank to our right, and leads back to open fields with hedgerows that stretch to the horizon. Shorter, more spindly trees cluster along the bank in the distance. Tiny in scale, people are sprinkled throughout the landscape, either singly or in small groups. In the shade of the grove to our left, a man with dark pantaloons, a brown hat and coat, and a walking stick strolls along the road with a woman wearing a red skirt, a dark shirt, and a white apron and cap. Just off the curve of the road to our right, another man with a walking stick, tan hat, and dark gray pantaloons talks to a woman also wearing red, black, and white. Another person, slightly smaller in stature, stands between them. At a pond farther back from this trio, a man with a broad-brimmed hat sits fishing at the edge of the water. Barely visible, a house with a pitched roof, a tall, brick-red chimney, and a white picket fence peeks out from behind the trees beyond the pond. Finally, a man wearing a rust-orange coat, gray pantaloons with white stockings, and a tall hat, carrying a pole propped on his shoulder, walks toward us on a footpath running alongside the fields. Tall, cream-white clouds dot the pale blue sky above, and tiny dots of dark paint suggest flying birds. Soft sunlight pours across the countryside. The artist signed and dated the painting in small script in the lower right corner: “meijndert Hobbema F 1663.”
Details
- Palette
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- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- overall: 94.7 x 130.5 cm (37 5/16 x 51 3/8 in.)
- Department
- CNE-B
- Holding institution
- National Gallery of Art
- Image provider
- national-gallery-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Art Genome Taxonomy
8 tags
Subject Matter
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Landscapes Both · 99%
The painting’s principal subject is a wooded countryside with a winding dirt road, trees, open fields, and distant hedgerows; the museum title and description identify it as a landscape.
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Landscapes and Waterscapes Both · 96%
A narrow stream and pond or wetland area are integrated into the rural scene, as described by the museum and visible in the lower and middle portions of the image.
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Atmospheric Landscapes Both · 94%
Large clouds, changing illumination, and the transition from a dark foreground grove to a pale, distant horizon give the landscape a pronounced atmospheric emphasis.
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Figures in Nature Both · 97%
Small human figures appear along the road, paths, and water within the surrounding woodland and fields rather than as the primary subject.
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Rural Life Both · 93%
The image and museum description show a cultivated countryside with roads, fields, hedgerows, a house, and people traveling or fishing.
Visual Qualities
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Earth Tones Visual · 96%
Deep greens, browns, muted ochres, and other subdued earth hues dominate the grove, road, and foreground, contrasted by blue-gray sky and pale cloud highlights.
Medium and Techniques
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Oil Painting Metadata · 100%
The National Gallery of Art records the medium as oil on canvas.
Time Periods
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17th Century Art Metadata · 100%
The museum dates the painting to 1663, placing it in the seventeenth century.
Source & rights
Meindert Hobbema. A Wooded Landscape. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.