Meyndert Hobbema

Meindert Hobbema painted sunny Dutch woodland: tall trees, winding sandy paths, glistening ponds and cottages half hidden in the leaves. Water mills were a favourite motif, and he painted more than thirty of them.

He was born in Amsterdam and trained with Jacob van Ruisdael, the leading Dutch landscape painter of the day. His most productive years were the 1660s. In 1668 he married and took a job as a wine gauger for the city, and he painted much less afterwards. His most famous picture, The Avenue at Middelharnis (1689), hangs in the National Gallery in London. Largely unknown in his lifetime, he was much admired from the late 18th century, not least by John Constable.

In A Watermill Beside a Woody Lane, notice how the light breaks through gaps in the trees onto the path.