Dutch school; 17th century.

Dutch school; 17th century.
"Fishermen".
Oil on panel.
Measurements: 24.5 x 18.5 cm; 42 x 36 cm (frame).
In this work the artist captures a peaceful scene illuminated by a clear golden light. The protagonists are several fishermen in the foreground. They appear seated in the boat, except for one of them who is standing and directing the boat and another crouching holding part of the net. A larger boat and a coastal landscape can be seen on the horizon. The chromaticity of the work is characterized by delicately grayish tones, somewhat mauve, in perfect harmony with the general light. In the foreground the colors acquire a greater entity, and together with the soft tones of the background, determined by the light, we see touches of violet, a resource that serves the painter to visually reinforce the illusion of depth, the construction of three-dimensional space. This chromatic gradation is soft, very studied, achieving an atmospheric capture of enormous naturalism.
Of all the contributions made by northern European countries to the history of art, none has achieved the enduring importance and popularity of seventeenth-century Dutch landscape painting. Evoking the outlines, terrains and atmospheres of the Netherlands more vividly than any other place, large or small, has ever been depicted. Within this tradition, the most revolutionary and enduring Dutch landscape contribution has surely been its naturalism. Seventeenth-century Dutch painters were the first to create a perceptually real and seemingly comprehensive image of their land and people. Although landscape as an independent genre appeared in Flanders in the 16th century, there is no doubt that this type of painting only reached its full development among Dutch artists. It can be said that it was practically they who invented the naturalistic landscape, which they affirmed as an exclusively central feature of their artistic heritage.