schloss ruine
Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem was a highly esteemed and prolific Dutch Golden Age painter of pastoral landscapes, populated with mythological or biblical figures, but also of a number of allegories and genre pieces.
He was a member of the second generation of "Dutch Italianate landscape" painters. These were artists who travelled to Italy, or aspired to, in order to soak up the romanticism of the country, bringing home sketchbooks full of drawings of classical ruins and pastoral imagery. His paintings, of which he produced an immense number, (Hofstede de Groot claimed around 850, although many are misattributed), were in great demand, as were his 80 etchings and 500 drawings. His landscapes, painted in the Italian style of idealized rural scenes, with hills, mountains, cliffs and trees in a golden dawn are sought after. Berchem also painted inspired and attractive human and animal figures (staffage) in works of other artists, like Allaert van Everdingen, Jan Hackaert, Gerrit Dou, Meindert Hobbema and Willem Schellinks.
Jean-François Millet was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his paintings of peasant farmers and can be categorized as part of the Realism art movement. Toward the end of his career, he became increasingly interested in painting pure landscapes. He is known best for his oil paintings but is also noted for his pastels, conte crayon drawings, and etchings.
Jan Josephsz. van Goyen was a Dutch landscape painter and draftsman of the Golden Age, a member of the Guild of St. Luke of Leiden, and a representative of the so-called tonal landscape. Van Goyen specialized in landscape painting and left many paintings depicting forest paths, rivers, lakes, and canals. He also painted peasant huts and the outskirts of towns.
Jan van Goin was one of the most prolific painters of the 17th century: some 1,200 paintings he created and some 800 drawings have survived.
Johann Christian Vollerdt was a German painter who specialised in Italianate landscapes.