Pair of galant scenes - Hendrick Van Limborch ( 1681 - 1759 )

Pair of oval paintings measuring 66 x 89 cm without frame and 90 x 115 cm with coeval frame depicting two gallant moments during a rest from hunting by the painter Hendrik Van Limborch ( The Hague 1681 - 1759 ).

The chromatic impact is beautiful with these light, warm tones that blend with the peace and tranquillity of the rural world.

The main characteristics of Van Limborch's painting are the airy breadth of the landscapes and the sense of diffuse luminosity where the episodes have no precise meaning. They are almost always rural pastimes so dear to the 17th century, with the usual characters from the repertoire of capriccios and vedute painters: beggars, orientalists, abbots contemplating ancient tombstones or hunters seeking rest or at work, all naturally always immersed in nature, the uncontested ruler and symbol of unity between man and life.

The landscape motif, even in the most fanciful ignitions, always has a real cue in our painter and therefore a real and human dimension; in these paintings we can see this green so bright and alive that tries to explain to us how much the nature that is around us and in which we lose ourselves is beautiful, strong, vigorous but at the same time sweet and docile.

It is beautiful to note how the two couples are on the one hand busy in their thoughts but at the same time seem lost in the serenity and tranquillity of this landscape of yesteryear.

Typical is his construction of the pictorial fabric and particular is the atmospheric rendering played out with the shaded areas created by the scenic backdrops of trees and clouds.

As in this painting, the perfect composition of the landscape became the main focus of his work;

The patches of trees executed with free and quick brushstrokes, the warm burnished colours, the atmospheric rendering of the rising clouds, all in a well-balanced composition of his landscapes with an Arcadian pastoral flavour, constitute the most significant elements of his painting, all of which are also well represented in our canvas.