Herman Saftleven

Herman Saftleven painted the river Rhine as a fantasy panorama. Seen from high above, the river winds between steep hills crowned with castles, with boats, travellers and villages spread below. He also painted woodland scenes and rustic barn interiors.

He was born in Rotterdam into a family of painters and moved to Utrecht around 1632, where he spent the rest of his life and served as dean of the painters’ guild. His views mix real Rhineland sights with imagined ones. After a violent storm in 1674 badly damaged Utrecht, his drawings of the churches became an important record. Late in life he made flower studies for the collector Agnes Block.

An Extensive Rhenish River Landscape shows his signature style. Look at the depth he creates, with brown foregrounds giving way to blue distance.