Updated 10 June 2025
On Display Permanent collection
On Display
Mouth of the Meuse (Dordrecht)
| Date | 1644 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | oil on panel |
| Size（cm） | 48.5 x 76 |
| Inscriptions | Signed and dated lower right: V GOYEN 1644 |
| Credit Line | Purchased |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1977-0001 |
This work is an excellent example of the riverscapes from van Goyen's mature period. The city of Dordrecht is depicted on the right of this landscape looking out to sea from the mouth of the Meuse River. The whole work is composed of a fine balance of almost monochromatic brown tones. The few sail boats and small boats that bob on the wave-filled surface of the delta and the figures rowing boats and fishing all have a melancholic air about them. The work is particularly fine in its depiction of the brilliant light that floods the area between the massive cloud-filled sky and the sea. Goyen repeated the same motifs and composition several times and a number of works depicting the mouth of the Meuse remain today. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 35)
Provenance
Private coll., Paris; Galerie Nathan, Zürich, by which sold to the NMWA, 1977.
Exhibition History
- 1978
- European Landscape Painting, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Kofu, 3 November 1978 - 15 January 1979, cat. no. 13
Bibliography
- 1976
- Roethlisberger, M. The great age of Baroque painting. Architectural Digest. November/December 1976, p. 95, col. repr.
- 1977
- Koshi, Koichi. Sekai no Meiga. No. 2, Tokyo, 1977, p. 68, col. repr.
- 1979
- The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 136, repr.
- 1979
- Annual Bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 12 (1977), 1979, Koshi, Koichi. New acquisitions 1977 (Painting). pp. 6-8, New acquisitions (Catalogue). pp. 16-17, repr.
- 1989
- Kobayashi-Sato, Yoriko. Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Paintings in Japan I. Annual Report Bridgestone Museum of Art & Ishibashi Museum of Art. no. 37 (1988), 1989, p. 44, no. 14, repr.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 35, col. repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 35, col. repr.
- 2018
- Kofuku, Akira. Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Paintings, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. [Tokyo], The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; The Western Art Foundation, 2018, pp. 104-105, no. 29, col. repr.