River View with Church and Farmhouse

Van Goyen was one of the first artists to paint the Dutch landscape. He was also very productive. He could work very fast, as he used little colour and kept his compositions simple: a dark foreground, a bank running diagonally into the distance and a hazy horizon. This was also the layout he chose for the river view here. On the opposite bank is a village with a striking church tower and a tall haystack. The dark silhouette of the rowboat in the foreground reinforces the sense of depth.