Circle By Adriaen Frans Boudewijns (brussels, 1644-1711), Landscape With Stream

Circle by Adriaen Frans Boudewijns (Brussels, 1644-1711)

Landscape with stream, village and figures

Oil on panel, cm 17.5 x 26

The Dutch painting of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is characterized by its historical-narrative vocation, which is expressed in the various pictorial genres through a pleasantly decorative taste, indebted to the local mannerist tradition as well as to the Italian Renaissance style. Beyond the painting of history and portrait, the art of Northern Europe is distinguished by the tasty country scenes within landscapes designed by Jan Bruegel I at the beginning of the seventeenth century and widespread and imitated until '700. It is within this vein that the small tablet in question is channeled: a large contingent of figurines, made by the artist with a limited series of brush touches, moves around the banks of a river, engaged in their daily activities. The figures that animate the scene, as can be easily understood by observing the details of their clothing, belong to different social classes. You can also see the typical Dutch houses in the painting, which help to provide a historical and geographical context to the scene. Aesthetically the work shares the style of Adriaen Fransz Boudewijns, landscape painter, designer and engraver. He was known for his landscapes with trees, Italian landscapes with architecture, rivers and villages, views of cities, coast and countryside and architectural scenes. In 1665 he was registered as a pupil and teacher of the Corporation of Saint Luke in Brussels. He was a pupil of the landscape painter and engraver Ignatius van der Stock. During his stay in Paris (1666), Boudewijns recorded many compositions by van der Meulen. He also made engravings from works by Genoels, the Dutch artist Jan van Hughtenburgh and his own drawings. He had a studio in Brussels where he received as pupils Andreas Meulebeek in 1682 and Mathys Schoevaerdts the following year.