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Your galleryFishing Boats off an Estuary
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Find the fishermen at their stakes on the left and the big sailing boat on the right, then look along the far shore for the tiny windmill.
A low horizon leaves most of this small panel to the clouds, and the colors stay within a narrow range of grays and browns. The Art Institute of Chicago explains that Jan van Goyen painted such river views at different sizes and levels of finish to suit buyers with large and small budgets, in a young republic proud of its life on the water.
Oil on panel · 36 × 57.8 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Dutch Golden Age
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Fishing Boats off an Estuary
- Artist
- Jan van Goyen (Dutch, 1596–1656)
- Date
- 1633
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Dimensions
- 36 × 57.8 cm (14 1/8 × 22 3/4 in.); Framed: 57.2 × 78.1 × 5.1 cm (22 1/2 × 30 3/4 × 2 in.)
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Artist’s life 1596–1656
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.







