Wouter van Troostwijk

The Amsterdammer Van Troostwijk loved the countryside. He depicted it in cool natural light, with farms or barns as recurring motifs. The colours are predominantly bright blue and dark green, with fresh white accents such as a cow, the shirt-sleeves of a figure, or a sheet bleaching in the sun.

Leaning back nonchalantly in his chair, the painter invites us into his studio as it were. He had already won a gold medal for his work at the age of 25, but died tragically just three years later. Apparently, he spent too long drawing outside in the cold one evening, fell ill and perished soon thereafter.

All painters – whether they want to depict landscape, animals or people – must sharpen their eye through lifelong observation. Van Troostwijk excelled at this. He drew people engaged in all of their daily activities with a fine feel for pose and posture.

In this hushed, wintry view of the little Raampoort Gate in Amsterdam, Van Troostwijk displayed the confines of the city in the early 19th century. Ultimately, however, the picture is once again about the light: the cold-grey ice and the snow on the roofs find their counterbalance in the reddish-brown brickwork, the roof tiles and the rosy evening sky.

Above all, Van Troostwijk was a painter of cattle. He endlessly drew studies of cows, sheep and horses, which he subsequently incorporated into larger compositions with powerful contrast of light and dark. Here, this illumination brings the cow to life and conceals the milkmaid in the shade.

Van Troostwijk’s humorous view of the world resonates in his self-portraits, etchings and drawings. For example, this hunter at rest seems parched and his sleeping dogs exhausted. The artist drew and etched prints, like this one, himself.

Van Troostwijk’s family was wealthy thus he did not have to earn a living from his art. Therefore, he rarely exhibited his work so as to give his artist friends a better chance on the art market. However, he greatly enjoyed venturing out with them to draw in nature.

Not only did Van Troostwijk paint and draw, he also took up etching, at which he excelled and which garnered him his first success. This ram’s head has an astounding level of detail.

Van Troostwijk seems to have drawn dressed models far more frequently than the traditional academic nudes. Farmers, milkmaids or street boys afforded him a more natural liveliness. He subsequently used the figures as staffage in a landscape or cattle painting.

Van Troostwijk can be characterized as a young master draughtsman. In his work, keen observation of ordinary everyday scenes comes together with an open mind that embraces the world. A quiet intimacy that lingers on.