Moonlit Estuary

Specializing in nocturnal scenes, Aert van der Neer painted imaginary views of nature, a genre of landscape painting first developed in Flanders in the mid-16th century. In this depiction of a moonlit estuary, Van der Neer delineated moonlight on the clouds, distant hillsides, and still water using thin, soft brushwork and minuscule dabs of paint. Boats, cottages, and a church tower are silhouetted against the cloudy sky, whose colors change from orange-pink and light blue to dark bluish-gray as the sun sets and the moon rises. Van der Neer also inserted signs of life throughout the composition: ducks resting by the shore in the foreground, cows drinking water in the distance, and at right, a family with a dog barking at the birds.