226
So intensely evocative are his works that sensitive viewers are led inside to participate within the Dutch seventeenth century in a way that rarely happens. Historians
may comment upon fabrics, eyes, settings, a mood cemented into some alternative
reality that is permanently fixed in consciousness. Perhaps nostalgia aids in that
accumulation of verities that help along the way. In the case of van Goyen, he
quickly achieves something that has other explanations. For example, it has been
written that “On his palette he would grind out a colour collection of neutral grays,
ambers, ochre and earthen greens that looked like they were pulled from the very
soil he painted.”
5
So wet is Dutch earth that researchers have found “more than 90%
5 Jan Van Goyen House > Paintings, https://www.fundatievoorhoeve.com/painting.html, Accessed
April 25, 2019; see also https://buitenmuseum.com/en/jan-van-goyens-house/, Accessed April 24,
2019.
Fig. 24.1 “Coastal Scene,” Detail, Attributed to Jan van Goyen, ca. mid-1630—1640s. (Private
Collection). (Photo © M.C. Tobias)
24 Jan van Goyen’s Exquisite Obsession
So intensely evocative are his works that sensitive viewers are led inside to participate within the Dutch seventeenth century in a way that rarely happens. Historians
may comment upon fabrics, eyes, settings, a mood cemented into some alternative
reality that is permanently fixed in consciousness. Perhaps nostalgia aids in that
accumulation of verities that help along the way. In the case of van Goyen, he
quickly achieves something that has other explanations. For example, it has been
written that “On his palette he would grind out a colour collection of neutral grays,
ambers, ochre and earthen greens that looked like they were pulled from the very
soil he painted.”
5
So wet is Dutch earth that researchers have found “more than 90%
5 Jan Van Goyen House > Paintings, https://www.fundatievoorhoeve.com/painting.html, Accessed
April 25, 2019; see also https://buitenmuseum.com/en/jan-van-goyens-house/, Accessed April 24,
2019.
Fig. 24.1 “Coastal Scene,” Detail, Attributed to Jan van Goyen, ca. mid-1630—1640s. (Private
Collection). (Photo © M.C. Tobias)
24 Jan van Goyen’s Exquisite Obsession