NARRATOR:
The work of the Dutch painter Jan Lievens has often been compared with that of his contemporary Rembrandt, and indeed the two were closely associated. In its minute description and warm, glowing colors, Panoramic Landscape of 1640 clearly betrays Rembrandt’s influence.
Viewed from a small hill, across dunes and a shallow body of water, a walled city lies on the edge of an expansive valley. The low horizon underscores the immensity of the land, spreading out beneath an incandescent sky. Dramatic golden light illuminates the city, focusing our attention on the gate, which rises majestically out of the sand. Don’t miss the tiny figures approaching it or the fishermen and animals near the pond on the left. Their scale gives a sense of the vastness of this imaginary landscape, intended to inspire awe and wonder in the viewer.
The palette, typical of the “tonal phase” of Dutch painting, is almost monochromatic—myriad shades of cream and brown, organized in rhythmic bands of light and shade. The paint is very thinly applied, allowing the horizontal wood grain to shimmer through.
Lievens, like Rembrandt, painted fantasy landscapes, primarily for his own artistic satisfaction. In later years he turned toward a more playful, international style that anticipated the early 18th century.
Panoramic Landscape
1640
Jan Lievens (Dutch, 1607-1674)
On View
Lievens was a student of Pieter Lastman, with whom Rembrandt also studied. In the late 1620s Lievens and Rembrandt worked closely, treating the same subjects and using the same models. Lievens lived in Antwerp from 1635 until 1643. There he came under the influence of Rubens and the Flemish landscape tradition. Although painted while Lievens was in Antwerp, this fantastic, imaginary landscape of mountains, plains and architecture, in warm tones of brown and green, appears to have been particularly inspired by examples from Rembrandt.
Details
- Artist Name: Jan Lievens (Dutch, 1607-1674)
- Title: Panoramic Landscape
- Date: 1640
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Dimensions: 15-1/4 x 19-5/8 in. (38.7 x 49.8 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1974.2.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
Private French collection.
[Newhouse Galleries, New York, stock no. 18810, jointly owned with Frederick Mont, Inc., New York, (consignment no. 61677), by 1973, sold 1974 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
[Newhouse Galleries, New York, stock no. 18810, jointly owned with Frederick Mont, Inc., New York, (consignment no. 61677), by 1973, sold 1974 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
[on loan]
- Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974-03-07 to 1974-12-15
Tulips are in Bloom
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-04-29 to 1993-08
- Norton Simon Museum, Selected Paintings at the Norton Simon Museum, 1980, p. 62
- Sumowski, W., Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, 1983, no. 75 pp. 2879, 2887, 2925
- Sutton, Peter C., A Guide to Dutch Art in America, 1986, p. 218
- Schneider, C., Fenway Court, 1988, fig. 9 pp. 15-16
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 67
- Schneider, C., Rembrandt's Landscapes, 1990, fig. 123
- Wheelock, Arthur, Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered, 2008, no ill p. 294, Cat. 42, note 1
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1007 p. 362
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