View of Rhenen

Jan van Goyen composed this grand, visually compelling panorama of Rhenen, a medieval walled city on the Rhine River, in 1646. Situating the viewer near the winding road that leads to the city, he masterfully captured the overarching sky, undulating terrain, and vast sweeps of Dutch countryside for which that region was known. Van Goyen depicted the scene from a small hill to the east of Rhenen, where he could view the twin-towered Rijnpoort, one of the city’s gates, as well as the majestic tower of the Cunerakerk at the city core. The painting brims with dynamic energy despite its tonal palette of muted ochers and grays. Billowing clouds create patterns of light and shade throughout the sky and across the land, defining the topography, while animals and humans, among them an elegant group of travelers in a horse-drawn coach with equestrian escort, bring added life to the scene.

Van Goyen traveled to Rhenen from his home in The Hague in the early 1640s by way of the Rhine and during that trip executed numerous drawings in and around the city, carefully studying its profile and character. These drawings served him well throughout the 1640s as he painted the city more than 30 times—from the east and from the west, from the water and from land. None of Van Goyen’s extant drawings relate specifically to _View of Rhenen_. However, he must have relied on sketches to compose this masterpiece, which is matched in neither scale nor drama by any other of his views of Rhenen.