Description: Oil on canvas painting by Barend Koekkoek. Signed lower left. Done in the romantic style he's noted for. "The motif of tiny figures within imposing, majestic natural environments to contrast humble humanity with the greatness of creation." The painting depicts two women in conversation which appear minute in comparison to the vast landscape of trees and mountains. The foreground is a stream with water washing over the rocks.

History: Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, Dutch landscape artist and son of Johannes Hermanus Barend Koekkoek . Barend Cornelis Koekkoek came to be known during his lifetime as the "Prince of Landscape Painting" and was by far the most applauded landscapist of his time and regarded as the founding father of Dutch romantic landscape painting. The recipient of endless awards and decorations, he counted among his clients King Friedrich-Wilhelm IV of Prussia, Tsar Alexander II, and King Willem II of the Netherlands. He grew up in an artistic environment. His father Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek (1778-1851) was a renowned marine painter, from whom he received his earliest tuition.Like other Romantic painters such as Caspar David Friedrich, Koekkoek painted the motif of tiny figures within imposing, majestic natural environments to contrast humble humanity with the greatness of creation. This was a popular subject matter in the Golden Age, the main source of inspiration for nineteenth-century artists.The 1840s-50s saw Koekkoek at the very height of his genius. In November 1859 Koekkoek suffered from a major stroke, which effectively ended his career as a painter. He died April 5, 1862, in his beloved town of Cleves.Up to this day, Koekkoek's work is very much favoured for the lively composition and the mood of nostalgia, in which the Dutch Golden Age seems to linger on. Just as he was during his own lifetime, Koekkoek is widely regarded as the most accomplished landscape painter of Dutch romanticism, against whose scrupulously refined paintings the work his contemporaries is measured.

Provenance: N/A

Dimensions: Weight (Pounds & Ounces) = 10.5 | Height(in) = 28 | Width(in) = 31 | Depth(in) = 3

Size of Artwork(in): 19.5 x 23.25" sight.

Artist Name: Barend Koekkoek

Medium: Canvas, paint.

Circa: Circa 1830

Under UV inspection, the sky has inpaint especially to upper left center.