Aelbert Cuyp 1620-1691
By Analia Kaufman
Aelbert Cuyp, River Landscape with Horseman and Peasants, 1658-60, Oil on canvas, (123 × 241 cm), The National Gallery, London.
Born in Dordrecht, Netherlands in October 1620, Aelbert Cuyp became one of the preeminent Dutch Golden Age painters, painting mainly pastoral landscapes and riverscapes. Often referred to as the Dutch equivalent of Claude Lorrain, Cuyp came from a family of already successful artists, though he would quickly surpass them in popularity. His uncle and grandfather were both well-known stained-glass cartoonists, painters, and draftsman, while his father was an established portraitist and landscape artist. Cuyp often worked with his father on work, completing background for his father’s portraits. Generally considered active from 1639-60, Cuyp’s style can be broken into three significant phases, based largely around his learnings from other artists.
Typically accepted as occurring in the 1640’s, Cuyp’s “van Goyen phase” was critical in his development of tone. Identifiably, two of Cuyp’s landscape paintings inscribed as completed in 1639 distinctly lack any consistent or established style, whereas the backgrounds in two of his father’s portraits from two years later (ascribed to Cuyp) are distinctly van Goyenesque. This can be seen in Cuyp’s Dunes (1629), which showcase both straw like yellow and light brown tones that are distinct markers of van Goyen’s own work, as well as use of the broken brush technique, in which strokes are short and choppy, and colours are not blended throughout. This precursor to impressionist painting is noticeable in van Goyen’s own works, as well. Cuyp’s style, specifically that of his use of lighting, changed dramatically in the mid-1940’s, coinciding with Jan Both’s return to the Netherlands. Both, another Dutch landscape painter, is believed to have been inspired by Claude Lorrain himself during a trip to Rome. Influenced by Both’s changes, Cuyp too began moving the lighting in his paintings from right angles relative to the line of vision to coming diagonally from the back of the painting. This created much greater sense of depth and shadow and allowed Cuyp to use the full chromatic scale for his renditions of sunrises and sunsets. His father, Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, is credited as Cuyp’s influence for his development of stylistic forms. Cuyp began focusing on landscapes from a young age, while his father was mainly a portrait artist. They often worked together, with Cuyp doing background landscape for Jabob’s portraits. While both of their styles changed throughout their lives, it is believed that this interaction with his father’s portraits influenced his representation of large-scale forms in his landscapes, which had not been seen previously, as well as making animals the focal point of his works.
Cuyp’s signature can be found on almost all his works, though he dated very few, which makes establishing a timeline of his production challenging. Additionally, Cuyp’s works (or those attributed to him) have been the subject of confusion and misattribution since his lifetime. A student of Cuyp’s, Abraham van Calraet, mimicked Cuyp’s style so closely that their paintings were often confused for one another’s. This was only exacerbated due to their matching initials. Though Cuyp often signed his work A. Cuyp, many were left unsigned, or signed as A. C., which van Calraet could do as well. It’s unclear whether this was done by van Calraet in an intentional ploy for his works to be misattributed as Cuyp’s, or if he was merely a devoted student copying his teacher.
Very little is known about Cuyp’s personal life. His productivity seems to end in coincidence with his marrying of Cornelia Bosman, a wealthy widow, in 1658. This cessation of production may be because Bosman was extremely religious, and not a notable patron of the arts. It is known that Cuyp became a Calvinist, transitioned to being active as deacon and elder of the Reformed Church, and had no other artist’s work in their home. Dying in November 1691, it’s impossible to know what he could have produced in the intervening 30 years of his life, had he continued. Nevertheless, Cuyp left a significant mark on the Dutch Golden Age in the years he was productive, with nearly 40 works attributed to him.
Bibliography
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., “Aelbert Cuyp,” NGA Online Editions, https://purl.org/nga/collection/constituent/1202.
“Aelbert Cuyp,” The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists,
https://artuk.org/discover/artists/cuyp- aelbert-16201691
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Aelbert Cuyp". Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Sep.