Artwork
Landscape with Corn Fields
Landscape with Corn Fields is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Jacob Savery. It is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Rendered on panel, the work reflects the Dutch Golden Age interest in both scientific study of flora and moralized landscape imagery.
Jacob Savery's 1616 oil painting depicts an open field of corn framed by a solitary tree, a composition that merges naturalistic observation with symbolic suggestion of agricultural abundance. The solitary tree functions as a traditional emblem of endurance and spiritual grounding, while the orderly rows of corn underscore themes of sustenance and the cyclical rhythms of rural life. Rendered on panel, the work reflects the Dutch Golden Age interest in both scientific study of flora and moralized landscape imagery.
The painting is housed in the Rijksmuseum collection and was owned by Gijsbert de Clercq, linking it to a network of collectors who valued agrarian motifs as representations of prosperity and divine order.
Technique & Style
Landscape with Corn Fields is executed in oil paint on panel, a support typical of small-scale Dutch landscape production of the period. The work measures 28.5 cm in height by 42 cm in width, giving it a horizontal format suited to an expansive countryside view.
Stylistically, the painting belongs to the landscape genre and is dated 1616. Its modest dimensions and panel support are consistent with the cabinet-picture tradition practiced by Jacob Savery, in which detailed natural observation is conveyed through the precise handling afforded by a smooth wooden ground.
Overview
Jacob Savery the Elder painted Landscape with Corn Fields in 1616, employing oil on canvas to render a tranquil agrarian vista. The composition centers on a solitary tree under which figures gather, while laborers attend to sheep and crops in the foreground. Distant structures and open fields extend toward the horizon, all rendered in muted, earthy hues characteristic of early seventeenth‑century Dutch landscape art.
History & Provenance
Born in Antwerp, Savery moved to the Dutch Republic after 1584 and worked primarily in landscape and genre subjects. Landscape with Corn Fields entered the Rijksmuseum’s collection, where it remains part of the institution’s holdings of early Dutch art, reflecting the museum’s focus on works from the Golden Age period.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Jacob Savery or Jacob Savery the Elder (1566 – buried 23 April 1603) was a Flemish painter, etcher and draughtsman.
