River Landscape with Cows

River Landscape with Cows, painted by Aelbert Cuyp in 1650, is an oil on panel work measuring 68 cm by 90.2 cm. The painting descended through several owners: it was owned by Caroline Anne, 4th Marchioness of Ely, and was sold at Christie, Manson & Woods in August 1917; subsequently acquired by Thos. Agnew & Sons and dealer H. M. Clark, then by Gaston Neuman in 1919, and entered the Amsterdam dealer Frederik Muller & Co., which held it until at least 1922. The work later passed to Paul Cassirer & Co. in Berlin, to Ignaz Petschek in Czechoslovakia, and by inheritance to Frank C. Petschek, who gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in 1986.

River Landscape with Cows is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it bears the accession number 1986.70.1. The work entered the collection as a gift from the Petschek family in 1986. Earlier, the painting was lent by Frederik Muller & Co. to exhibitions in 1921 and 1922.

After its creation in 1650, the work changed hands multiple times, passing from the Marchioness of Ely to Christie, Manson & Woods in 1917, then to Gaston Neuman, and subsequently to collectors in the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States. It was shown in exhibitions in 1921 and 1922, as recorded by Muller, and by the 1920s was in the possession of Paul Cassirer & Co. The painting eventually entered the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., through a 1986 gift from the Petschek family.

Today it is part of the museum’s Dutch Golden Age collection and is noted for its mature landscape composition and precise handling.

Aelbert Cuyp's River Landscape with Cows, an oil on panel completed in 1648, represents a characteristic work from the Dutch Golden Age. The artist, born and active in Dordrecht, was a prominent painter known for his evocative landscape scenes. This particular painting captures a serene rural setting, featuring livestock by a body of water beneath a wide, cloudy sky, embodying the atmospheric qualities for which Cuyp was celebrated.

Landscape painting flourished as a genre during the Dutch Golden Age, with artists like Aelbert Cuyp specializing in depicting the local countryside. These works often celebrated the Dutch environment, moving beyond simple topographical views to convey a particular sense of light and mood. Cuyp's training under his father, Jacob Gerritszoon Cuyp, grounded him in this tradition, allowing him to develop a unique style that significantly contributed to the genre's popularity and evolution.