Station: [7] Room 4 – Dutch Friends

M:

Hendrik Lot, Willem Bodeman, Cornelis Lieste, his own brother and his brother-in-law – Koekkoek attracted a great many friends and fellow artists to Cleves. Most turned up during the summer months and worked together on their subjects. It would be virtually impossible to over-estimate Koekkoek’s influence on 19th century Dutch landscape painting. In the 1840s and ‘50s, there were some 20 painters staying in Cleves and in touch with Koekkoek. Take a look around this room to find out about some of them.

F:

Willem Bodeman was a friend of Koekkoek’s from his younger days. In the 1820s, they’d lived and worked in Hilversum, south-east of Amsterdam and jointly pursued their career paths as artists ever since. Bodeman’s painting in this room shows a stylised Italian landscape with cattle and sheep grazing placidly.

M:

Cornelis Lieste from Haarlem, a significantly younger man, is represented with three works in this room. On the right-hand wall as you walk in, his “Wooded Landscape with Moyland Castle” displays a yellow sky in the light of the sinking sun. You need to look twice to identify the castle mentioned in the title – the outlines of its towers appear among the dark treetops.

F:

Finally, Marinus Adrianus Koekkoek was the unrivalled master’s younger brother. Having been unable to attend an academy, he remained self-taught and lived in Cleves from 1837 to 1839. His compositions are strongly reminiscent of his brother’s works, which served him as models.

M:

Working together out of doors reflected the artistic ideal of the day. If you look at your screen now, you can see a lithograph that adorned the title page of Koekkoek’s memoirs. The image shows four painters who have set up on a small rise, complete with easels, parasol and picnic food – an idealised image of the Romantic artist’s daily life.

F:

Now, please leave this room – which was actually once the Koekkoek family’s nursery. In the room right opposite, beyond the stairs, you’ll have a chance to meet the painter’s large family.