Artifact World Gallery
Get the iOS app

The canal at 's-Graveland by Pieter Gerardus van Os

Pieter Gerardus van Os · 1818-01-01

View the artwork: The canal at 's-Graveland →

This is "The canal at 's-Graveland" (1818) by Pieter Gerardus van Os. The painting captures a quiet stretch of working Dutch countryside east of Amsterdam. The grand brick farmhouse and mirror-calm canal are what the eye settles on first. But the painting's real heart is something most viewers scroll straight past.

Look at the left bank, behind the small waterside shed. Van Os has tucked a flock of grazing sheep into the shadows there. At normal viewing distance they are nearly invisible, just a handful of pale brushstrokes among the reeds and bushes. A slow look reveals them: a tiny pastoral scene hiding in plain sight.

Van Os came from a family of artists and trained by copying 17th-century Dutch masters, especially Paulus Potter, the great painter of cattle. Animals were his obsession. In 1808 he won a prize from King Louis Bonaparte for the best landscape at the first public exhibition of Dutch contemporary art. The winning work was a hilly landscape filled with cattle. He supported himself early on painting portrait miniatures, but his real love was always animals in a landscape.

Every painter leaves a signature. Sometimes it is not a name in the corner but a favorite subject, tucked where only the patient will find it.

#arthistory #dutchpainting #landscapepainting

Details

nearly a third of the canvas is sky; the warm golden light on cloud undersides signals low afternoon sun and sets the entire color temperature of the scene
nearly a third of the canvas is sky; the warm golden light on cloud undersides signals low afternoon sun and sets the entire color temperature of the scene
the dominant architectural anchor of the composition; its solid geometry and dark roof create the strongest value contrast in the painting and pull the eye immediately from the soft natural surroundings
the dominant architectural anchor of the composition; its solid geometry and dark roof create the strongest value contrast in the painting and pull the eye immediately from the soft natural surroundings
the darkest shape in the painting; its hard geometric edge against luminous sky demonstrates van Os's control of value to anchor a soft landscape
the darkest shape in the painting; its hard geometric edge against luminous sky demonstrates van Os's control of value to anchor a soft landscape
a wall of deep green foliage that frames the composition on the right; the variety of leaf textures and depth of shadow is where the painter's hand is most visible
a wall of deep green foliage that frames the composition on the right; the variety of leaf textures and depth of shadow is where the painter's hand is most visible
still water doubles the sky and trees in reflection, the classic Dutch device of using water as a second sky to flood a flat composition with light
still water doubles the sky and trees in reflection, the classic Dutch device of using water as a second sky to flood a flat composition with light
Transcript

A solitary rider passes a grand Dutch farmhouse. The canal is a mirror, doubling the late-afternoon sky. The rider has a destination. This is worked land, not a park. Tucked behind that modest wooden shed, something moves. A flock of sheep, barely bigger than brushstrokes. Van Os won a prize from King Louis Bonaparte for his cattle scenes. He hid his favorite subject in the corner of a canal scene.