Jan van Goyen Sold at Auction Prices

Landscape painter, b. 1596 - d. 1656

(b Leiden, Netherlands 1596; d The Hague 1656) Dutch painter and draughtsman. Jan van Goyen ranks as one of the leading and most prolific Dutch 17th-century landscape artists. He spent much of the 1620s heavily influenced by Esaias van de Velde, under whom he had studied in 1618-19. In 1627 he broke away from the example of his master and his works after this date show a new maturity which marks the beginning of his own individual style. His winter landscapes of the 1620s are characterized, like van de Velde's, by a composition cluttered with figures, buildings and trees. During his travels van Goyen filled several sketchbooks with rapid studies of landscapes, buildings, animals and figures, which he would then use as the basis for elements in his oil paintings. Van Goyen reached the pinnacle of his creative work in the 1640s. By the end of the preceding decade the artist had achieved notable recognition as one of the foremost landscapists of his generation. Van Goyen was appointed head of the Guild of Saint Luke in The Hague in 1638, and again in 1640. Although he employed a restricted palette, van Goyen was able to capture an enormous range of atmospheric effects and achieve a masterly sense of depth in his compositions. The dramatic effects of the weather were constant themes of van Goyen's work throughout his career. (Credit: Christie’s, London, Important Old Master Paintings from the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker, July 5, 2007, Lot 12; Sotheby’s, London, Old Master Paintings Evening Sale, December 5, 2007, Lot 33)