PYNACKER, Adam
(b. 1620/21, Schiedam, d. 1673, Amsterdam)

A Rocky Creek

c. 1654
Oil on canvas, 102 x 83 cm
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Southern river landscapes with barges became, like Mediterranean harbour views, a popular genre for the Dutch Italianate painters during the 1640s. About 1650 Pynacker began painting such river scenes with barges, often with rock formations as a backdrop. The present painting is an example of this group.

Adam Pynacker probably never visited Italy, his treatment of light is the result of contact with the work of Jan Both and Jan Asselyn.