bert feringa                                         painter

Willem Roelofs was one of the first Dutch landscape painters who broke with  the traditional romantic representation of the landscape. The dramatic painting  shown above is one of his last classical romantic landscapes. The greater part of his artistic life Roelofs lived in Brussels but during his entire career he remained a typical Dutch landscape painter. From Brussels he visited Barbizon several times. He was captivated by the new approach of the Barbizon painters.  Roelofs  was a  link between the school of Barbizon and innovative painters in the Hague. He was the teacher of Willem Hendrik Mesdag and Paul Gabriel, who became prominent members of the School of the Hague.  Roelofs is generally considered as a predecessor of the School of the Hague. His credo was " nature is the matter  we should draw on"  and he painted  'en plain air' to catch the beauty of nature directly. During the summer season Willem Roelofs often left Brussels to travel  and paint in the Netherlands, mostly in the typical Dutch polder areas but also in other less accessible  areas. He was fond of unknown landscapes not earlier discovered by other painters like for instance far away  and rural Ruurlo. He made at least 3 paintings in Ruurlo. But he established his fame  with his typically Dutch polder landscapes with impressive skies, windmills, and lazy cows standing near the water.