Jan van Goyen (Leiden 1596-1656 The Hague)

Van Goyen returned repeatedly to views of Dordrecht looking toward the Grote Kerk. While the artist began to make sketching trips to the city as early as the 1630s, the majority of his views of it appear to have been executed almost exclusively in the 1640s and 1650s. His burgeoning interest in Dordrecht in the period may have much to do with his familial ties to the city, as his son-in-law, Jacques de Claeuw, was active as a painter there from about 1642, around the year in which van Goyen's depictions of Dordrecht began in earnest.
As is typical of his mature paintings, here van Goyen employs a low horizon line, devoting more than two-thirds of the composition to the cloud-filled sky, which enlivens the landscape and figures with the luminous hues of yellow, orange and brown of a crisp afternoon light. The overall tonality is enhanced by van Goyen's skilful use of a highly efficient method of painting that allows the ground to peak through in places. Unlike his earlier, panoramic views of the city, here the Grote Kerk, which dominates the right half of the composition, is imbued with a monumentality that looks ahead to his paintings of a few years later.