Jan van Goyen Lot n° 1038

Jan van Goyen Old tower on a river bank Oil on wood. 38 x 52 cm. Signed lower right on the rowing boat: VG 1646. Provenance Galerie Fievez, Brussels, auction 25.6.1923, no. 80, with illus. - Belgian private collection. Literature H.-U. Beck: Jan van Goyen, catalog of paintings, Amsterdam 1973, vol. II, no. 680 (without illus.). The present river landscape, dated 1646, is a fine example of the technique that made the landscape painter Jan van Goyen famous: the use of a limited palette whose dramatic effect belies its apparent simplicity. A subtle palette of greys, silvers and whites combined with the skillful use of the ochre ground in the darkest foreground passages and the sky creates an almost monochromatic effect in paintings such as this.