Moonlit Estuary
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Specializing in nocturnal scenes, Aert van der Neer painted imaginary views of nature, a genre of landscape painting first developed in Flanders in the mid-16th century. In this depiction of a moonlit estuary, Van der Neer delineated moonlight on the clouds, distant hillsides, and still water using thin, soft brushwork and minuscule dabs of paint. Boats, cottages, and a church tower are silhouetted against the cloudy sky, whose colors change from orange-pink and light blue to dark bluish-gray as the sun sets and the moon rises. Van der Neer also inserted signs of life throughout the composition: ducks resting by the shore in the foreground, cows drinking water in the distance, and at right, a family with a dog barking at the birds.
Harvard Art Museums
Particulars
- Accession number
- 2016.239
In the catalog
Sources
- Harvard Art Museums
- Image: Harvard Art Museums — © President and Fellows of Harvard College
