Meindert Hobbema - The Avenue at Middelharnis
Hanging on the walls of London’s National Gallery - Meindert Hobbema’s greatest masterpiece is an absolute marvel for capturing depth and perspective in a painting.
Admittedly, this initial impact of this illusion can seem slightly less impressive to our modern eyes given how much we take for granted the visuals captured in photography and videography etc.
But for past audiences, we can only imagine just how astonished viewers would have been to see a painted landscape extend so far back into a picture.
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In fact, this painting was once dubbed by critics as “the finest picture ever produce in Holland, save for those painted by Rembrandt”
Yet what really makes Hobbema’s masterpiece even more interesting to discuss, is that it is a total anomaly in the context of his wider career.
Having originally been trained under the tutelage of Jacob van Ruisdael (who was arguably the most renowned landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age) - Hobbema spent his early life as an artist learning how to paint fairly typical forest and river landscapes in the style we see below.
And while these early pieces are all fine enough - with all due respect to the man, they are not exactly “ground-breaking” or “innovative”.
Thus, at this point in his life, Hobbema basically seems content with simply following van Ruisdael’s well trodden style - with no real signs of ever trying to extend upon the gifts of his more illustrious mentor.
But I suppose even if Hobbema did nurture a kind of hidden ambition back in those days - sadly, the changing economic situation in the Netherlands during the mid to late 1600s seems to have also rather stunted his artistic growth too.
Thus by the age of 30, shortly after getting married, we find Hobbema moving away from his life as a professional artist.
He secured himself a far more stable career as a “municipal wine-gauger” - which basically involved weighing, measuring and dealing with the taxes of imported wines.
And from the age of about 35 onwards, he seems to have pretty much stopped painting altogether - meaning that we really have, at most, only a handful of paintings which can confidently be attribute to this second half of Hobbemma’s life, until his eventual passing in 1709 at the age of 71.
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Yet still, in the midst of such a modest selection - one work in particular stands out like a towering oasis in an otherwise desolate landscape.
The Avenue at Middelharnis
Painted in 1689, when Hobbemma would have been in his fifties . . . we are not really sure why he decided to pick up a brush again here.
Perhaps it was as a gift for a family friend - or commissioned by an unknown patron - or simply for his own amusement, as a side project from his more corporate career.
Either way, what is most astonishing here is just how different the composition is in comparison to those works of his early career . . . and how, all of a sudden, Hobbemma is demonstrating such a mastery of perspective, that even the great Jacob van Ruisdael would have found this impossible to emulate!
You see, countless other artists throughout history have gone through these kinds of “paradigm shifts” in their work too . . . where their style suddenly elevates to a whole new level.
However, when that happens, we can generally track the course of this change too . . . i.e through following the course of their career, we can witness their development in real time - seeing how the artist slowly makes incremental shifts in colour schemes, or conducts ongoing experiments with style / technique which eventually lead them into breaking new ground.
Whereas in this case - Hobbema’s “giant leap forward” comes entirely out of the blue.
We have no precedence of him painting like this before.
And no evidence of him painting like it again.
In fact, there is a good the Avenue at Middelharnis is the last time our artist would ever pick up his paintbrushes with any serious intent.
But if that is the case - then perhaps it leaves us one other little thought as to why this piece became the masterpiece that it is.
Maybe Hobbema had reached a stage in life where he knew that time was passing a little too quickly.
And though he was no doubt grateful for having a relatively stable job, a happy family, and a number of modest comforts . . . still, we can imagine his artistic heart must surely have told him he still had unfinished business as a painter.
So, maybe a stroll along this avenue after work one day lit one last fire in him; inspiring this final attempt at making a bona fide masterpiece - only, this time, without being tied down by all those old creative shackles, which had once told him he could only ever walk a path that Jacob van Ruisdael had already set.
In short, maybe this was the artist’s ultimate “swan song” - or, at least, an attempt to gain closure on the career he had once given up.
But of course, we will never know the real truth of his inspiration here.
All we can say for sure, is that the painting he achieved is by some distance the most accomplished and original of his entire life.
And for that reason, I can’t help hoping that when the piece was finally completed - or when Hobbema eventually came once again to walk down this little avenue, en route to his real day job . . . he would have done so with a proud smile on his face.
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What a superb essay! You’ve outdone yourself. Another gem in NG that one (and I mean me) passes unthinkingly. Thank you - not only for this one, of course, but to see that nothing is unworthy of attention at the NG (or anywhere, really)
The fact that we don’t know why he painted this picture, why after so many years of not painting and how he developed his technique to me are fascinating mysteries from which great novels arise.