A Panoramic Landscape

Seen from a high vantage point, this panoramic view of a Dutch landscape seems to extend into a limitless distance. Sweeping clouds dominate the dramatic sky, emphasizing the low flat expanse of the land below. Patches of sunlight illuminate the water, trees, and buildings of a broad plain traversed by a winding river.

Philips Koninck specialized in painting panoramic views of his native countryside. Although the view seems convincing, he composed this imaginary landscape from various raw elements of nature, playing with expressive lighting and perspective upon a natural stage. The view assumes a point of view high above the earth, which did not exist in the flat land of Holland.