Biography

Jan van Goyen was one of the most important and prolific seventeenth-century Dutch landscape painters. His early style reflected that of his teacher, the landscape painter Esaias van de Velde. Both artists shied away from narrative detail in their paintings, and instead focused on the effects of nature upon the Dutch landscape. Gradually, Van Goyen began using a more restricted range of colours, painting in muted tones of grey, green and brown. Often, one colour saturates Van Goyen’s paintings, both dominating and uniting the scene. Van Goyen’s immediate, rapid technique allowed him to paint pictures very quickly. As a result, his output was enormous and he was able to respond to the market demand for landscapes.