A winter landscape at dusk with villagers on a path, a village beyond

Barend Cornelis Koekkoek was a pivotal figure in the evolution of Dutch 19^th Century painting and achieved international fame as one of the most important landscape painters of his generation, regarded during his lifetime as the ‘Prins der Landschapschilders’. Born in Middelburg Barend Cornelis trained, like his brothers, under his father, Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek before joining the Koninklijke Akademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam in 1822. Around 1824, the young artist moved to Hilversum, where he dedicated his art to landscape painting. This was a popular subject matter in the Golden Age of Dutch painting in the 17^th century and was a continued source of inspiration for 19^th century artists. The golden light and the inclusion of travelers in his work suggests Koekkoek also admired the Dutch Italianate painters of the 17^th century, collectively known as the Bamboccianti, especially Pieter van Laer and Jan Both.

From 1830 onwards, Koekkoek undertook several journeys along the Rhine and the Ruhr as the flat Dutch countryside could not satisfy the artist's romantic soul for very long. ‘Surely’, Koekkoek wrote in 1841, ‘our fatherland boasts no rocks, waterfalls, high mountains or romantic valleys. Proud, sublime nature is not to be found in our land.' In the summer of 1834, he moved to the old Ducal capital of Cleves, Germany, where he found his ideal subject matter and would spend the rest of his life. In Cleves Koekkoek painted his most important landscapes, ranging from extensive river valleys to idyllic forest views. He often dramatized his trees as a means to emphasize man's paltriness in comparison to nature. In 1841 Koekkoek founded a drawing academy in his new home where he tutored many young artists, which would ultimately become the so-called 'School of Cleves'.

When Koekkoek left the Netherlands in 1834, he was already highly acclaimed as a landscape artist. In 1829 he received his first prize from the Artist Society Felix Meritis for Landscape with a Rainstorm Threatening, which is now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum. In 1832, he was made a member of the Royal Arts Academy in Amsterdam, and it was in the 1830s that the heir to the Dutch throne, Prince Willem II, acquired some of the young artist’s first landscapes. After 1840, Koekkoek’s work was recognized throughout Europe and the artist was honored with gold medals at the Paris Salons. Among the noted collectors of the artist’s work in the 1840s were the King of Prussia, Friedrich-Wilhelm IV and the Russian Crown Prince Alexander, who amassed a large collection of the artist’s work.
By 1855, the year in which the present lot was painted, Koekkoek was widely regarded to be the leading Romantic landscape painter of the period.

The present lot will be included in Dr. Guido de Werd’s forthcoming B. C. Koekkoek catalogue raisonné as no. 55/51-2.