A Saw-mill by a Torrent by Allart van Everdingen was created in 1670. The painting is in National Gallery London. The size of the work is 44,8 x 60,3 cm and is made of oil on wood.
About the Work
A patch of sunlight lights up the thatched roof of an old watermill and the white foam of the turbulent river passing its door. Allart van Everdingen has made little of the wheel and posts in the water that mark the cottage as a mill, concentrating on the mood created by the water and the colours of the surrounding landscape. Many watermills were being abandoned at this time in Holland; perhaps the artist was suggesting that this one too has outlived its usefulness. The day shown is a chill one, but there’s no smoke coming from the mill’s chimney.
In spite of the warm tones of the grass, the soil at the side of the water, the trees and even the mill, the painting has a melancholy air. A grey sky seems to promise rain and below the clouds two tall larch trees stand gaunt, bending a little in the wind. The distant hills look barren and lonely, and the high cliffs on the right seem to threaten; only a few sparse trees clinging on to them break their harsh contours.
On the left, the leaves of a young oak tree turn autumnal yellows and oranges in the sun. It frames the picture, seeming to hold the mill in the curve of its slender trunk. Beneath the steep bank on which it stands a few sheep graze, watched over by a woman – almost lost in the layers of varnish that darken the picture – in a blue dress. Read more in National Gallery London
About the Artist
Allaert van Everdingen (bapt. 18 June 1621 – 8 November 1675 (buried)), was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker in etching and mezzotint.
Van Everdingen was born at Alkmaar, the son of a government clerk. He and his older brothers, the painters Jan and Caesar van Everdingen, according to Arnold Houbraken, were taught by Roelandt Savery at Utrecht. Allaert moved in 1645 to Haarlem, where he studied under Pieter de Molijn. In February of that year he married Janneke Cornelisdr. Their first child, Cornelis, was born a year later. Allart finally settled about 1657 in Amsterdam, where he died in 1675.
It would be difficult to find a greater contrast than that presented by the works of Savery and Everdingen. Savery inherited the brilliant style of the Brueghels, which he carried into the 17th century; whilst Everdingen realized the large and effective system of coloured and powerfully shaded landscape which characterises the precursors of Rembrandt. Read more in Wikipedia
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