Aelbert CUYP
Dutch 1620-1691
Landscape with cattle
c.1639-49
oil on wood panel
65.0 x 90.8 cm
Felton Bequest 1932
4664-3

Cuyp was born in Dordrecht, the son of a well-known portrait painter. He is now considered one of the leading landscape artists of the 'golden age' of Dutch painting. In his landscapes, he concentrated on depicting natural atmospheric effects, executing idyllic scenes bathed in diffused golden light.
Cuyp was very particular in rendering accurate detail from nature and man made settings, and the distant town in this painting is clearly identifiable as Leiden. Cuyp is also considered a specialist animal painter, such are his astute powers of observation and the accuracy of his depictions of animals. In the seventeenth century the Dutch were particularly proud of the farming industry, especially cattle and dairy farming; Cuyp and other artists made their living painting what are almost portraits of these beasts.
Strangely, Cuyp was virtually ignored until the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century when his work had a strong influence on British landscape artists such as J. M. W. Turner and Richard Wilson.