Moonlight – Aert Van Der Neer (1603/04 – 1677)

Oil on oak panel. Monogrammed AV DN lower right.
Emblematic of van der Neer's art, our composition features figures in a moonlit lake landscape. On the outskirts of a village whose bell tower can be seen in the background, three protagonists are chatting around a fire while a fourth, posted on a frail wooden bridge, is fishing. The diffused light brought by the moon subtly reveals the reliefs and escarpments. The mastery shown by van der Neer in restoring the glow of the night offers us a scene of great poetry. And although he did not meet with success during his lifetime, he is unquestionably the master of the nocturnal landscape and posterity will do him justice. Indeed, many of his works are kept in the most prestigious museums in the world: Rijksmuseum, Louvre Museum, Hermitage Museum, National Gallery in London, Kunst Historisches Museum in Vienna, Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels, Mauritshuis or Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

The work is elegantly underlined by its French frame in carved and gilded wood from the Louis XIII period.
Dimensions: 34 x 43 cm - 48 x 57.5 cm with frame

Aert van der Neer (Amsterdam 1603/1604 - id. 1677) is a landscape painter known for his winter scenes and moonlit landscapes. Aert (Aernout) van der Neer was born in Amsterdam, and documents found after his death indicate that he spent his youth near Gorinchem in the south of the Netherlands. It is not known when Van der Neer left the Gorinchem region or with whom he apprenticed. However, in 1629 it is attested that he returned to Amsterdam where he was registered as a painter. He married the same year Lysbeth Govert who gave him six children including the future genre painter Eglon van der Neer (1634-1703).