A Farm in the Sunlight
We look across a stream and through a loose screen of shadowy trees at a sunlit farm under a powder-blue sky with towering, puffy clouds in this vertical landscape painting. The ground and stream closest to us are painted in tones of olive green, sepia and earth brown, black, and slate gray. Nearly lost in shadow, a group of six people gathers at the water’s edge in the lower left. Small in scale within the composition, they wear brick-red, gray, or caramel-brown garments. Beyond them, a low picket fence winds through and between a loose band of shadowy trees, which are painted with gnarled, dark gray trunks and camel-brown, sage, and pine-green leaves. The trees to our left are closer and taller, while those to our right are a little farther away. The sun pours from the upper left into the field beyond. The farm buildings there have tan walls and sloping, peach-colored roofs. A few animals and people, smaller than the group in front, stand among the buildings, and more cottages can be glimpsed through a stand of trees on our right. The horizon line comes about a third of the way up the composition, and a church and steeple are silhouetted against the sky in the deep distance. A few birds fly in front of gray and white clouds that rise from the right side and spread across the top of the canvas.
Details
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- overall: 81.9 x 66.4 cm (32 1/4 x 26 1/8 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
10 tags
Subject Matter
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Landscapes Both · 99%
The museum metadata classifies the work as a vertical landscape painting, and the image is organized around trees, fields, sky, water, and a distant rural horizon.
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Landscapes and Waterscapes Both · 98%
The catalog describes a view across a stream, and water or wet ground is clearly visible in the foreground beneath the wooded scene.
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Rural Life Both · 98%
The farm buildings, fencing, people, animals, and cultivated-looking fields establish a rural setting, consistent with the catalog description of a sunlit farm.
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Atmospheric Landscapes Visual · 95%
Dark foreground trees and wet ground contrast with a brighter middle distance, luminous breaks in the cloud cover, and a hazier distant horizon, producing a strongly atmospheric landscape effect.
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Animals Both · 93%
Birds are visible against the sky, and the catalog also identifies additional animals among the distant farm buildings.
Visual Qualities
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Earth Tones Visual · 96%
The foreground and tree masses are dominated by olive green, brown, sepia, slate gray, and deep near-black tones, set against a lighter blue and cream sky.
Medium and Techniques
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Oil Painting Metadata · 99%
The museum identifies the medium as oil on canvas.
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Painting Metadata · 99%
The museum classifies the object as a painting.
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Long Distance and Deep Distance Visual · 91%
The stream, receding ground, fence, trees, farm buildings, and church lead the eye from the shadowed foreground toward the distant illuminated landscape.
Time Periods
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17th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The museum dates the painting to 1668.
Source & rights
Meindert Hobbema. A Farm in the Sunlight. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.