Winter landscape

Barend Cornelis Koekkoek combined Romantic landscape with a revival of the Dutch seventeenth-century style, in particular the dramatic mood painting of Jacob van Ruisdael and Allaert van Everdingen.

In this painting there is snow everywhere: on the roofs of the houses, on every tree, on every twig. It is cold, but the sun is trying hard to break through. Long shadows extend across the snowy landscape. The famous landscape artist Koekkoek attempted to imitate nature as closely as possible, for he believed that nature embodied the truth. However, his expertly composed paintings are not realistic depictions of nature. He took the natural scenery which he saw around him and deliberately idealized it.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 37 minutes): Schubert: Songs, transcripted for piano by Franz Liszt