Background
Meindert Hobbema was born on the 31st of October, 1638 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The Avenue at Middelharnis
Meindert Hobbema was born on the 31st of October, 1638 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Hobbema was a pupil of Jacob van Ruisdael.
Hobbema settled in Amsterdam, but the nature that he painted was that of the woody, sandy areas west of Haarlem and in the eastern provinces of the Netherlands. Marrying in 1668, he received, through his wife, a municipal appointment as a measurer of imported wines and liquors. While the dearth of works dated after 1668 would suggest that Hobbema ceased painting at this time. Fond of depicting little clumps of farmhouses, streams shaded by feathery trees, and particularly water mills, Hobbema's dependence upon his master, Ruisdael, is observable in the technical similarities between the two. Hobbema's color tends to be dull and, in his early works, often hard in tone.