17th century Dutch school

Dutch school of the XVII century.
"Bucolic scene with children", 1687.
Oil on canvas. Dated.
Relined in the 19th century.
It has been added about 3 cm. at the bottom (19th century).
Measurements: 80 x 96,5 cm.

Outstanding example of Dutch genre painting of the Baroque period, with its characteristic idealization of life in the countryside and its excellent treatment of textures and qualities.

The painting conveys a sense of innocence, calm and harmony with nature. The foreground is dominated by children and animals, situated in a forest clearing. The ground is covered with wild flowers. A dense grove of trees with sturdy trunks and dark foliage frames the scene, creating a strong contrast of light and shadow. Through an opening in the forest, a more distant landscape is revealed. Hills or mountains are visible under a sky that lightens on the horizon, and a house in the distance.

A directed light softly illuminates the faces and the colorful children's clothing, highlighting them against the dark background of the forest. The pastoral scene, in its bucolic intention, is connoted with a certain aura of a sacred scene, this mixture of genre and religiousness being characteristic of Dutch genre painting.

The central focus of the composition are four children, with vivid and expressive faces. A seated girl, dressed in a brown suit, holds a bouquet of roses. She looks directly at the viewer with a calm gaze. Next to her, two younger children are grouped together: a girl in a blue dress rests her arms on the back of a sheep and looks at us with her big blue eyes. Next to her, another boy in dark clothes also looks at us, making a spontaneous gesture with his right hand. A fourth boy, dressed in a red jacket, is partially hidden by vegetation and also leans on a sheep.

The farm animals reinforce the bucolic atmosphere: a cow with dark brown fur, a goat whose head peeks out between the children's bodies and the aforementioned sheep. In the background landscape, more sheep are seen grazing in the twilight.

The juicy group portraiture and attention to detail in the textures (such as the wool of the sheep and the fabrics) is characteristic of 17th century Dutch painting.