National Galleries of Scotland

Meindert Hobbema (Dutch, 1638 - 1709)

Hobbema’s wooded landscapes exerted a considerable influence on British landscape painting of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He trained with the famous landscape painter, Jacob van Ruisdael. Hobbema's early work reflects the paintings of Ruisdael’s uncle, Salomon van Ruysdael, as well. Hobbema introduced a spaciousness and lighter tonality in his mature landscapes. After his marriage in 1668, he became a wine-gauger for the Amsterdam customs and seems to have painted less, although one of his most famous pictures, 'The Avenue at Middelharnis' (National Gallery, London), is a late work.