Document: Extensive Wooded Landscape, Philips Koninck, Dutch, 1670s

This landscape shows the fancy dress and decorated water vehicles that may have been more common in the Netherlands than in New Netherland.   Elegance in water craft was not a priority in the New World, likely due to the rigors of the climate.

Metropolitan Museum Summary: The topography in this late work by Koninck was probably inspired by the eastern Dutch province of Gelderland but is nonetheless imaginary. Dutch landscapists usually made up their views in the studio, often using drawings from nature for particular motifs. A river landscape of 1676 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, is very similar in composition, and features the same elegant hunting boat, a jacht (yacht), to the right.

Title: An Extensive Wooded Landscape

Artist: Philips Koninck (Dutch, Amsterdam 1619–1688 Amsterdam)

Date: 1670s

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 32 3/4 x 44 5/8 in. (83.2 x 113.3 cm)