The Trekvliet

Weissenbruch was no longer a young man when he painted The Trekvliet, but it is still considered as a comparatively early work, primarily because of the use of perspective to suggest space and the detailed delineation of all the elements in the landscape. The artist's masterly hand can be detected mainly in the fine play of light, which gives the painting the clarity and freshness characteristic of the Dutch landscape in summer.

The Trekvliet is a waterway running between the Rijswijkseplein and the Vliet; on the left looms the tower of a house called De Binckhorst and on the right the Laak windmill can be seen. By the time this picture was painted railways had replaced barges as the accepted mode of passenger travel, but the picture retains the feel of earlier days when the waterways were also used for general conveyance.

Source: R. de Leeuw, J. Sillevis, Ch. Dumas (eds.), The Hague School: Dutch masters of the 19th century, The Hague 1983.