Jan Van Goyen

JAN VAN GOYEN (Leiden 1596 - The Hague, 1656),
"On the Road," 1651.
Oil on panel.
Work reproduced in the catalog raisonné BECK, Hans- Ulrich, "Jan van Goyen 1596 - 1656. Ein Oeuvreverzeichnis". Volume II. Van Gendt & Co, Amsterdam, p. 507. Fig. 1161.
Presents labels and wax seal on the back.
Signed with monogram V.G. and dated in the lower right area.
Measurements: 24 x 33.5 cm; 42 x 51.5 cm (frame).
Jan van Goyen, one of the great observers of the daily life of the XVII century, bequeathed us scenes that, under an apparent simplicity, condense a sharp look on the human existence and the landscape. In this composition, we witness a passage in motion: two peasant women advance with their jugs and provisions, accompanied by a dog that runs beside them, while they cross paths with three men guiding a cart loaded with hay, pulled by two sturdy horses. In the distance, other characters are lost in the horizon, underlining the idea of transit and continuity.
The sobriety of the composition is sustained by a rhythmic play of light and shadow, monochromatic shades, and a descending diagonal that articulates the whole. The sky, the true protagonist, occupies almost three quarters of the canvas, furrowed by moving clouds that evoke the humid and changing atmosphere of the Netherlands. A warm golden light envelops the scene, giving it unity and serenity. These features, repeated with variations in his work, are hallmarks of his style.
Along with Salomon van Ruysdael and Pieter Molijn, Van Goyen was decisive in the renewal of the Dutch landscape. From the second decade of the 17th century, these artists abandoned the preference for the picturesque, the decorative and the theatrical hallmarks of the Mannerist tradition to cultivate a more modern naturalism. In their plastic proposal, color is attenuated, light gains prominence and the open horizon becomes an essential axis. As Jacques Foucart, curator of the Louvre Museum, pointed out, Van Goyen developed an unprecedented formula: giving three quarters of the painting's surface to the intangible, to the sky, which with its clouds and glazes establishes the poetic tone of the whole.
Trained in Haarlem under the tutelage of Esaias van de Velde, whose initial influence is undeniable, Van Goyen settled first in Leiden and then in The Hague, where he founded a workshop frequented by painters of the stature of Van der Kabel, Saftleven, Berchem and Jan Steen. He enjoyed great prestige during his lifetime: in 1631, having just arrived in The Hague, he joined the guild of St. Luke and in 1640 he reached the position of dean. He traveled to France around 1615, and also toured Flanders and Germany, thus broadening his visual background.
His first works, still close to Esaias van de Velde and Avercamp, are in the genre and show a Mannerist inclination: scenes of skating and popular life minutely described, with detailed architecture and miniaturist workmanship. However, around 1626-1628 he began a transition: he abandoned the small circular formats and anecdotal excesses, and moved towards more unified compositions by means of broad diagonals, as can be seen in The Village (1626, Lakenhal, Leiden). Although still full of details, in this work the figures begin to lose their narrative character to become part of the landscape.
Prolific artist, he left a vast production: more than a thousand paintings and about eight hundred drawings. His work, now spread throughout museums in Europe, can be admired in leading institutions such as the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Louvre in Paris, the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, the Mauritshuis in The Hague or the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, as well as in collections in Zurich, Vienna, Brussels, Dresden, Salzburg, Bordeaux, Lille, Rouen, Toulouse, Quimper, Bernay and even Algiers.
With his vision of landscape as a space of atmosphere and movement, Jan van Goyen laid the foundations of a pictorial sensibility that would accompany the fullness of the Dutch Golden Age, offering the viewer not only scenes of common life, but also the aesthetic experience of the ungraspable: the sky, light and the passage of time.