Architectural Caprice With Herds, 17th Century

Circle of Nicolaes Berchem (1620, Haarlem - 1683, Amsterdam)
Architectural caprice with herds
Oil on canvas, 57.5 x 74 cm - with frame 76 x 93 cm

The canvas examined is to be returned to a disciple, by Nicolaes Berchem, Dutch artist born in 1620, son of the still life painter Pieter Claez, from whom he received the first rudiments of painting. His training and his painting are deeply linked to Italy, the country where he traveled and studied; a first trip must be prior to 1642, a period when his presence is attested in the Guild of San Luca in Haarlem, one of the most important artists' corporations in Flanders and the Netherlands, particularly active during the Baroque period; among its members we can cite artists of the caliber of Rubens, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Antoon Van Dick, Pieter Bruegel. After a second stay in Italy between 1653-1656, he settled permanently in Amsterdam. His production centers on views of ports, ruins, Roman landscapes and pastoral landscapes, as in the work in question. His style is strongly influenced by Italian stays and is characterized by a definition of ideal rural environments, hilly or mountainous depending on the case, enriched with human and animal figures (he was also an engraver and his studies on animals were of considerable importance. ). The painting is characterized by a delicate and lyrical atmosphere in warm tones, both lively and present. In the rich and balanced composition, the landscape is rendered with great attention to detail and light while the slight fading and fading of colors in the distance gives the impression of delicate depth. Figures are rendered with attention to detail and attention to pose and actions. They seem to be caught in a real moment, in the moment the action is unfolding. The warm tones and the refined changes of tones, immersed in this special light, give the work an atmosphere in which time seems to have stood still.