(Haarlem circa 1610–1661) A house on a riverbank with a rowing boat, signed indistinctly on the boat: F. d. H. l..., oil on panel, 21.6 x 26.7 cm, framed

Provenance: Goldschmitt Galleries, New York (1927); H. J. Lutcher Stark Collection, Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas. Frans de Hulst belongs to the immediate group of Haarlem landscape painters who were influenced by van Goyen. Most of his river landscapes, designed on the diagonal, are olive green to brown in tone. Nonetheless, he should be seen as an important, independent artist personality. Between 1630 and 1650 a flourishing trade developed predominantly in Haarlem, Leiden and The Hague in river and flat landscapes painted in a greenish-yellow, blueish-green or brown palette with simple motifs, in which the characteristic hazy atmosphere of this region is shown to advantage. Van Goyen’s technique is augmented with new elements: his thin application of paint is reinforced by van Hulst’s altogether more impasto style in which the brushstokes are evident. The clouds have become an important element of the composition and the interplay of sunlight and cloud cover lends intriguing nuances to the simple composition.