Jan Both, Southern Landscape, Old Master Painting

Jan Both

Utrecht 1618 - 1652

Southern landscape with people

Oil on canvas (lined)

Signed lower middle "Both fec."

Painting: 72 x 86 cm

Frame: 95 x 108 cm

good condition




Authenticity is guaranteed in writing.



Jan Both was a Dutch landscape painter of the early 17th century. He was one of the most influential representatives of the so-called "Dutch Italians" (Dutch Italianates), mostly young, aspiring painters from the Netherlands, who went to Rome, especially in the course of the 17th century, to study the evidence of classical antiquity as well as also study the works of the great masters Titian, Raphael and Michelangelo. The magic of the old ruins in the hilly, sun-drenched landscape with the lush, strange vegetation had a special appeal for them. Above all, the warm, golden light of the southern metropolis, so contrasting with the rather gray light of their homeland, fascinated the young northerners.

Already during Jan's first study of painting between 1634 and 1637, probably with Gerrit van Honthorst or Abraham Bloemaert, his early development as a landscape painter became apparent, probably also under the influence of Carel de Hooch († 1638), whose realistic landscapes were an important alternative to the more traditional depictions of Cornelis van Poelenburch or Bartholomeus Breenbergh and certainly made a lasting impression on the young, budding artist left behind.
Together with his brother Andries, also a painter, but of peasant scenes similar to those of Adriaen Brouwer, Jan left home and lived in Rome from 1637/38 to 1641. There he soon became a member of the so-called “Bamboccianti” (employees or successors from Pieter van Laer's circle, called il Bamboccio), worked closely with Claude Lorrain on two series of large-format landscape scenes (today Madrid, Prado) and was friends with Herman, among others van Swanevelt. from them, Jan also adopted the arrangement of his landscapes in diagonal lines in order to achieve greater spatial depth, and unified his compositions with the help of the glowing golden light that became so characteristic of his entire later oeuvre, together with a naturalistic way of depicting the details , which clearly distinguished his pictures from those of his fellow painters.
In 1641 Jan and Andries left Rome to return to Utrecht. However, Andries died due to an accident during a stopover in Venice. Back in Utrecht, Jan Both focused entirely on the realistic depiction of “Italianized” landscapes, which were largely based on his Roman studies and drawings. Jan did not populate his scenes with mythological figures, as is usually the case, but with real figures such as hikers, shepherds or riders.
Throughout his short but significant career, Jan Both often collaborated with other artists. In addition to the already mentioned Claude Lorrain, these were primarily Cornelis van Poelenburch, Jan Baptist Weenix, Pieter Saenredam and Nicholas Knüpfer. Jan Both's choice of subjects and exemplary style of composition were admired by many contemporaries and were a main source of inspiration for the third generation of Dutch "Italians", including Willem de Heusch and Frederik de Moucheron. His drawing style was also frequently copied, particularly faithfully by his student Jan Hackaert. Jan Both's art often had a lasting influence on fellow painters who could not (or did not want to) travel south. The best known effect is probably on Aelbert Cuyp, who probably met Jan Both personally in Utrecht on his first big trip to Holland in 1642. After this trip, Aelbert Cuyp's way of depicting light clearly changed from a more subdued atmosphere tending towards gray to a scene bathed in southern golden light in stronger colors. with this unique symbiosis of a thoroughly Dutch landscape in a Mediterranean light, Cuyp created a completely new type of landscape painting that was highly valued and often copied for a long time. Jan Both's 'Italian' landscapes were also very admired and popular in the art scene until the middle of the 19th century. However, as a result of the return to the original, lifelike depiction of the Dutch landscape during the late 19th and first half of the 20th century, they no longer received any attention. It was only in the 1960s that Jan Both and his importance for Dutch landscape painting were rediscovered, among others through a study by M. R. Waddinghams.