Extensive River Landscape with Windmill

In the early and middle period of Vermeer van Haarlem’s activity, he painted mostly forest landscapes under the influence of Jacob van Ruisdael. Later, inspired by Ruisdael’s dune landscapes and probably also by the work of Philips Koninck, he began creating panoramic views seen from a higher point. These seemingly monotonous depictions of an expansive landscape under a misty sky or one enveloped in clouds, filling a large part of the canvas, maintained in uniform tones of muted greens and yellows, softened with grey accents, are an excellent example of the Dutch trend in landscape painting, whose representatives focused on showing the native landscape, so well-known to them, with dunes, fields, rivers and coastal shorelines. … [D. Juszczak, H. Małachowicz, The Stanisław August Collection of Paintings at the Royal Łazienki. Catalogue, Royal Łazienki Museum, Warsaw 2016, no. 110, pp. 403–404.]