Adriaen de Gryeff

Adriaen de Gryeff loved the cold morning light over Dutch marshes, he’d set up his easel before dawn, brushes stiff with half-frozen paint, just to catch the ducks taking off. He never signed his canvases, but duck hunters in Haarlem knew his work on sight. His Vânătoare de bâtlani shows a flock exploding off the water in a single frozen second; the hunters’ faces are lost in the spray, their dogs mid-leap. Track down that painting and you’ll see why he’s worth a closer look.