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Lot Essay
Described by Stechow as a 'masterpiece', this is a rare example of a summer landscape by Hendrick Avercamp (for whom, see also lot 528); a late work, it is datable to circa 1630. By this stage in his career, Avercamp had begun to adopt a style reminiscent of his earlier oeuvre; thus his figures are diminished in size and of looser design, blended closer in with the landscape. The viewpoint and horizon are higher than in his work of the previous decade, recalling again the Flemish artists of the previous generation. However, unlike that of such predecessors and of his own earlier style, Avercamp's work of this period displays a distinct feeling for the landscape around him.
An important influence on Avercamp's late work was that of Esaias van de Velde. George Keyes ('Hendrick Avercamp and the winter Landscape', 1982 exh. cat., op. cit., pp. 37-55) notes that it was partly because of the latter that, in many of Avercamp's later pictures, his figures are no longer his central focus; instead they form merely a part of the landscape the atmospheric depiction of which is the artist's main preoccupation. The present work is one of the best examples of this new-found interest: a river landscape on a still summer's day, the slight haze in the air and the diffused, limpid light - the horizon and sky melting into each other - recalling the muggy atmosphere that precedes a summer storm.
Avercamp uses the river not as a platform for his Kampen burghers (in part a simple reflection of the fact that it is not frozen), but instead as a compositional device, giving depth to the landscape. His old horror vacui reasserts itself, however, in his imposition of the mast lying flat over the bows of the foreground boat. This device also has the fortunate side effect of avoiding the traditional difficulties experienced in the foreground by artists when depicting a river head-on to the viewer.
An important influence on Avercamp's late work was that of Esaias van de Velde. George Keyes ('Hendrick Avercamp and the winter Landscape', 1982 exh. cat., op. cit., pp. 37-55) notes that it was partly because of the latter that, in many of Avercamp's later pictures, his figures are no longer his central focus; instead they form merely a part of the landscape the atmospheric depiction of which is the artist's main preoccupation. The present work is one of the best examples of this new-found interest: a river landscape on a still summer's day, the slight haze in the air and the diffused, limpid light - the horizon and sky melting into each other - recalling the muggy atmosphere that precedes a summer storm.
Avercamp uses the river not as a platform for his Kampen burghers (in part a simple reflection of the fact that it is not frozen), but instead as a compositional device, giving depth to the landscape. His old horror vacui reasserts itself, however, in his imposition of the mast lying flat over the bows of the foreground boat. This device also has the fortunate side effect of avoiding the traditional difficulties experienced in the foreground by artists when depicting a river head-on to the viewer.