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This painting carries many of the hallmarks of an Italianate picture: a soft Mediterranean light, the sun still warm although night is falling, distant hills not likely to be seen in a flat Dutch landscape, and idealised peasants with their garments loosened and walking at a leisurely pace. As far as we know, Adriaen van de Velde never went to Italy, but he knew artists who had and who allowed him access to their work.Van de Velde’s depiction of the young man leading the cow is particularly skilled and sensitive: both have real weight and substance, yet show delicate details of texture, like the feathery hairs on the cow’s face and the flowing folds of the man’s shirt. This realism comes from the many superb drawings, mostly in red chalk, that van de Velde made from life.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Peasants with Cattle fording a Stream

Date

about 1662

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 32.4 x W 37.8 cm

Accession number

NG868

Acquisition method

Bought, 1871

Work type

Painting

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

View venue

Artist or maker

Adriaen van de Velde

1636–1672

View profile

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