Brueghel, Jan the Elder (1568-1625)
River Landscape
1607
Oil on coppper, 20.7 x 32.1 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington
People gather under trees next to an expansive river dotted with boats in this horizontal landscape painting. The people are tiny in scale in the landscape, and they all have light skin. The softly rippling river takes up the right half of the composition. The water is bottle green closest to us, shifting to celestial blue in the distance. The water blends with the same color blue in the sky along the horizon, which comes halfway up the painting. Rowboats and sailboats line the shore along our left and float into the distance, some with sails tied up and others unfurled. In the lower right corner, a ferryboat filled with travelers, horses, and cattle approaches a landing on the lower left. At the landing, a boatman passes a baby to a man standing on the riverbank, while several ladies, a young girl, and a dog wait nearby. On the ground in front of this group is a basket, several packages, and dead fish. A second small group awaits passage just beyond the man receiving the baby. The women wear long dresses and hats or bonnets, and the men wear jackets, knee-length britches, stockings, and caps in shades of royal blue, petal pink, laurel green, ruby red, or white. A copse of trees with tall, slender canopies fills the left third of the composition. People walk along a path through the trees and work in and around boats along the riverbank. Farther back, a stone bridge crosses a stream, and beyond it, tan buildings cluster around a church spire seen through a break in the trees. Above the church, the sky is a pale cream color, and the light streams down to highlight the bridge, buildings, and the water. Birds sit in the trees and fly overhead, while waterfowl gather by the landing, near the lower left. The painting is signed and dated in the lower left: “BRVEGHEL 1607.” (NGA)