View on a Plain

Aelbert Cuyp was little known outside his native Dordrecht until he was 'discovered' by collectors in 18th-century England. They enthusiastically bought up his paintings to such an extent that little was left in his native country. This is one of Cuyp's early works, painted when he had begun to move away from the monochrome palette of Jan van Goyen towards the warmer oranges and yellows of Dutch Italianate painters such as Jan Both. The tower that dominates the horizon is that of the church of St Cunera, in Rhenen. The view is thought to be taken from the Grebbeberg, a hill to the east of the city.