The Mill

This painting is not included in the Bredius catalogue. It is attributed to Rembrandt but perhaps it was executed by a painter in his circle. Essentially a romantic rather than a realistic interpretation of nature, the principal subject of the picture is the spirit of peace and calm that envelops the earth at dusk. The subordination of details in large masses of shadow heightens this mood. The Mill which for more than a century was in an English private collection, had considerable influence on English landscape painters. John Constable described it as one of the four memorable paintings in the history of landscape and in itself sufficient to form an epoch of landscape painting.