Jan Josephszoon van Goyen (; 13 January 1596 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch landscape painter. The scope of his landscape subjects was very broad as he painted forest landscapesm marines, river landscapes, beach scenes, winter landscape, cityscapes, architectural views and landscapes with peasants.Jan van Goyen
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

The list of painters he influenced is much longer. He was an extremely prolific artist who left approximately twelve hundred paintings and more than one thousand drawings.

Biography

Jan van Goyen was the son of a shoemaker and started as an apprentice in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...

, the town of his birth. Like many Dutch painters of his time, Jan van Goyen studied art in the town of

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

with

Esaias van de Velde Esaias van de Velde (17 May 1587 (baptized) – 18 November 1630 (buried) ) was a Dutch landscape painter. Biography He was born in Amsterdam, where his Flemish father Hans had fled as a Protestant in 1585. He probably studied under his fathe ...

. At age 35, he established a permanent studio at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

(Den Haag). Crenshaw tells (and mentions the sources) that van Goyen's landscape paintings rarely fetched high prices, but he made up for the modest value of individual pieces by increasing his production, painting thinly and quickly with a limited palette of inexpensive pigments. Despite his market innovations, he always sought more income, not only through related work as an art dealer and auctioneer but also by speculating in tulips and real estate. Although the latter was usually a safe avenue of investing money, in van Goyen's experience it led to enormous debts.

Paulus Potter Paulus Potter (; 20 November 1625 (baptised) – 17 January 1654 (buried)) was a Dutch painter who specialized in animals within landscapes, usually with a low vantage point. Before Potter died of tuberculosis at the age of 28 he succeeded in ...

rented one of his houses. Though he seems to have kept a workshop, his only registered pupils were Nicolaes van Berchem,

Jan Steen Jan Havickszoon Steen (c. 1626 – buried 3 February 1679) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century. His works are known for their psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour. Lif ...

, and Adriaen van der Kabel. The list of painters he influenced is much longer. In 1652 and 1654 he was forced to sell his collection of paintings and graphic art, and he subsequently moved to a smaller house. He died in 1656 in The Hague, still unbelievably 18,000 guilders in debt, forcing his widow to sell their remaining furniture and paintings. Van Goyen's troubles also may have affected the early business prospects of his student and son-in-law

, who left The Hague in 1654.

Dutch painting

Typically, a Dutch painter of the 17th century will fall into one of four categories, a painter of

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

still-life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, bo ...

s, or

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other f ...

. Dutch painting was highly specialized and rarely could an artist hope to achieve greatness in more than one area in a lifetime of painting. Jan van Goyen would be classified primarily as a landscape artist with an eye for the genre subjects of everyday life. He painted many of the canals in and around The Hague as well as the villages surrounding countryside of

Delft Delft () is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, and The Hague, to the northwest. Together with them, it is part of both the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolita ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

, and Gouda. Other popular Dutch landscape painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth century were Jacob van Ruisdael, Aelbert Cuyp,

Hendrick Avercamp Hendrick Avercamp (January 27, 1585 (bapt.) – May 15, 1634 (buried)) was a Dutch painter during the Dutch Golden Age of painting. He was one of the earliest landscape painters of the 17th-century Dutch school, he specialized in painting th ...

Ludolf Backhuysen Ludolf BakhuizenLudolf Bakhuizen
at the Meindert Hobbema,

Aert van der Neer Aert van der Neer, or Aernout or Artus (c. 16039 November 1677), was a landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age, specializing in small night scenes lit only by moonlight and fires, and snowy winter landscapes, both often looking down a canal ...

Van Goyen's technique

Jan van Goyen - Wageningen, MdbK Leipzig

Jan van Goyen would begin a painting using a support primarily of thin oak wood. To this panel, he would scrub on several layers of a thin animal

hide glue Animal glue is an adhesive that is created by prolonged boiling of animal connective tissue in a process called rendering. In addition to being used as an adhesive it is used for coating and sizing, in decorative composition ornaments, and as ...

. With a blade, he would then scrape over the entire surface a thin layer of tinted white lead to act as a

ground Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the surface of the Earth not covered by water * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical c ...

and to fill the low areas of the panel. The ground was tinted light brown, sometimes reddish, or ochre in colour. Next, van Goyen would loosely and very rapidly sketch out the scene to be painted with pen and ink without going into the small details of his subject. This walnut ink drawing can be clearly seen in some of the thinly painted areas of his work. For a guide, he would have turned to a detailed drawing. The scene would have been drawn from life outdoors and then kept in the studio as reference material. Drawings by artists of the time were rarely works of art in their own right as they are viewed today. On his palette he would grind out a colour collection of neutral grays, umbers, ochre and earthen greens that looked like they were pulled from the very soil he painted. A varnish oil medium was used as vehicle to grind his powdered pigments into paint and then used to help apply thin layers of paint which he could easily blend. Jan van Goyen 012

The dark areas of the painting were kept very thin and transparent with generous amounts of the oil medium. The light striking the painting in these sections would be lost and absorbed into the painting ground. The lighter areas of the picture were treated heavier and opaque with a generous amount of white lead mixed into the paint. Light falling on the painting in a light section is reflected back at the viewer. The effect is a startling realism and three-dimensional quality. The surface of a finished painting resembles a fluid supple mousse, masterfully whipped and modeled with the brush. According to the art historian H. U. Beck, "In his freely composed seascapes of the 1650s he reached the apex of his creative work, producing paintings of striking perfection." Some of Van Goyen's Works can be seen at the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, one from the public collection (''Winter landscape with figures on ice'', 1643) and others from the Carmen Thyssen Collection also shown there (''River Landscape with Ferry boat and Cottages'', 1634).

Legacy

Jan van Goyen was famously influential on the landscape painters of his century. His tonal quality was a feature that many imitated. According to the

, he influenced Cornelis de Bie,

Jan Coelenbier Jan Coelenbier (1610, Kortrijk – 1680, Haarlem), was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter. Biography According to the RKD he was a pupil of Pieter de Molijn and became a member of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke in 1632.Cornelis van Noorde Cornelis van Noorde (1731 – 1795) was an 18th-century landscape painter and draughtsman from the Northern Netherlands. Biography He was born in 1731, in Haarlem. According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History, he was the son of Ri ...

, Abraham Susenier,

Herman Saftleven Herman Saftleven the Younger (1609 - 5 January 1685 (buried)), was a Dutch painter of the Baroque period. Biography Born in Rotterdam, Saftleven lived most of his life (1632–1685) in Utrecht. His brothers, Cornelis Saftleven (1607–1681) ...

Pieter Jansz van Asch Pieter Jansz van Asch (1603 – 6 June 1678 (buried)) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography He was born at Delft, the son of the portrait painter Jan van Asch and joined the Guild of St. Luke in 1623.Abraham van Beijeren Abraham Hendriksz van Beijeren or Abraham van BeyerenAlso known as 'Abraham van Bergaren (c. 1620, The Hague – March 1690, Overschie ( Rotterdam)) was a Dutch Baroque painter of still lifes. Little recognized in his day and initially active ...

. Van Goyen is mentioned by his fellow countryman

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

in Vincent's second letter from the asylum: "Through the iron-barred window I can make out a square of wheat in an enclosure, a perspective in the manner of Van Goyen, above which in the morning I see the sun rise in its glory."

Gallery

> File:Leipzig, Museum der bildenden Künste, Jan van Goyen, Bauerngehöft.JPG, ''Farmhouse'' (1628), oil on panel, 27.5 x 37.5 cm.,

Museum der bildenden Künste The Museum der bildenden Künste (German: "Museum of Fine Arts") is a museum in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It covers artworks from the Late Middle Ages to Modernity. History Museum Foundation and First Museum The museum dates back to the fo ...

File:Goyen 1633 Peasant Huts with a Sweep Well.jpg, ''Peasant Huts with a Sweep Well'' (1633), oil on panel, 55 x 80 cm.,

Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (, ''Old Masters Gallery'') in Dresden, Germany, displays around 750 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. It includes major Italian Renaissance works as well as Dutch and Flemish paintings. Outstand ...

File:Goyen 1636 Village at the River.jpg, ''Village at the River'' (1636), oil on panel, 39,5 x 60 cm.,

Alte Pinakothek The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pi ...

File:Zeil- en roeiboten in een riviermonding Rijksmuseum Amsterdam SK-C-1780.png, ''Sailing and Row boats in an Estuary'' (1640), oil on panel, 77 x 116 cm.,

Museum De Lakenhal Museum De Lakenhal is the city museum of fine art and history in Leiden, Netherlands. One highlight is its collection of fijnschilder paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. Just like the city, the museum combines a classical appearance with a contemp ...

File:Landskapsmålning, 1600-tal, van Goyen - Hallwylska museet - 21748 (cropped).tif, ''Landscape with a Rainbow'' (no date), oil on canvas, 124.5 x 154.5 cm.,

Hallwyl Museum Hallwyl Museum ( sv, Hallwylska museet) is a Swedish national museum housed in the historical Hallwyl House in central Stockholm located on 4, Hamngatan facing Berzelii Park. The house once belonged to the Count and Countess von Hallwyl, but wa ...

File:Jan van Goyen - Landscape with Two Oaks - WGA10186.jpg, ''Landscape with Two Oaks'' (1641), oil on canvas, 88.5 x 110.5 cm.,

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the ...

File:Goyen 1641 The Thunderstorm.jpg, ''The Thunderstorm'' (1641), oil on canvas, 137.8 x 183.2 cm.,

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

File:Goyen 1642 A Windmill by a River.jpg, ''A Windmill by a River'' (1642), oil on panel, 29,4 x 36,3 cm.,

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

File:Jan van Goyen (1596-1656) - A River Scene - NG 1013 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg, ''A River Scene'' (1646), oil on panel, 42.6 x 56.5 cm.,

National Galleries of Scotland National Galleries of Scotland ( gd, Gailearaidhean Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the National Collections ...

File:Ice Scene near a Wooden Observation Tower A25869.jpg, ''Ice Scene near a Wooden Observation Tower'' (1646), oil on panel, 36.5 × 34.3 cm.,

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...

File:Jan Josephsz. van Goyen - Panorama Landscape with a View of Arnheim - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Panorama Landscape with a View of

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...

'' (1646), oil on canvas, 98.5 x 135 cm.,

Museum Kunstpalast The Kunstpalast, formerly Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf is an art museum in Düsseldorf. History The roots of the museum go back around 300 years. In 1932, the collection of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Academy of Art) was housed in the Kunstmus ...

File:A View of The Hague from the Northwest MET DP147601.jpg, ''View of

from the Northwest'' (1647), oil on panel, 66 x 96.2 cm.,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

File:Jan van Goyen - River Landscape with Peasants in a Ferryboat, 1648 SC232133.jpg, ''River Landscape with Boats and Cottages on the Bank'' (1648), oil on panel, 54 x 73.7 cm.,

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

File:River Scene by Jan van Goyen.jpeg, ''River Landscape'' (1652), oil on panel, 66.7 x 98 cm., Wallraf–Richartz Museum File:An van Goyen (1596–1656)- A Stormy Seascape - Myrskyinen merimaisema - Stormigt hav (29178839560).jpg, ''A Stormy Seascape'' (1655), oil on canvas, 110 × 159 cm., Sinebrychoff Art Museum File:Jan Josephsz. van Goyen - River Landscape with a Ferry and a Church - 07.502 - Museum of Fine Arts.jpg, ''River Landscape with a Ferry and a Church'' (ca. 1656), oil on panel, 47.3 x 66.7 cm.,

Sources

External links

*
View of Dordrecht 1644Vermeer and The Delft School
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which has material on Jan van Goyen
Five artworks by Jan van Goyen
at the online collection of

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from the two most important collectors of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. It is located ...

.
Dutch and Flemish paintings from the Hermitage
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Jan van Goyen (cat. no. 10) {{DEFAULTSORT:Goyen, Jan Van 1596 births 1656 deaths Artists from Leiden Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch landscape painters Dutch male painters Dutch marine artists Painters from Leiden