Hamlet in the Wood
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Object Label
The Amsterdam painter Meindert Hobbema depicted the calm, flat landscape of the Dutch Republic—newly independent from Spain—at a time when global trade and colonial exploitation had made the country extremely prosperous. Executed on an ambitious scale with a fluid touch, this painting features eight figures peacefully inhabiting a hamlet, or small settlement, in a wooded landscape under an expansive, clouded sky.
Caption
Meindert Hobbema Dutch, 1638–1709. Hamlet in the Wood, 1660–1665. Oil on canvas, 38 1/4 × 51 5/8 in. (97.2 × 131.1 cm) frame: 49 1/2 × 62 1/2 × 5 1/2 in., 94 lb. (125.7 × 158.8 × 14 cm, 42.64kg). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Horace O. Havemeyer, 56.159. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 56.159.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Hamlet in the Wood
Date
1660–1665
Geography
Place made: Netherlands
Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
38 1/4 × 51 5/8 in. (97.2 × 131.1 cm) frame: 49 1/2 × 62 1/2 × 5 1/2 in., 94 lb. (125.7 × 158.8 × 14 cm, 42.64kg)
Signatures
Signed lower left: "M. Hobbema"
Credit Line
Gift of Horace O. Havemeyer
Accession Number
56.159
Rights
No known copyright restrictions
This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Tell me more.
The artist Meyndert Hobbema was known for landscapes like this. Notice the large area devoted to the sky and the shadowy figures in the foreground. Landscapes like this were and idealistic view on the world. They were a reaction against the rapid urbanization happening in Europe at the time.Could you tell me more about Hobbema?
Sure! He was born in Amsterdam and spent most of his life there.At this time, the Netherlands and the rest of Europe, more people were moving into the cities, and upper-middle-class and upper-class people enjoyed paintings of the countryside that showed an ideal vision of country life.Hobbema trained with an artist named Jacob van Ruisdael and became known for his scenes of quiet village life. Although he was based in the city, he would travel out to sketch scenes of smaller towns in order to capture traditional country life for his paintings.Look closely at the cottage and the small figures of people!
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