The Water Mill

Artist Meindert Hobbema (Dutch, 1638-1709)

Place of OriginNetherlands

Date1664

DimensionsH: 37 3/8 in. (94.9 cm); W: 51 13/16 in. (131.7 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1967.157

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 23

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesSmith, J., Catalogue Raisonné: VI, 1835, no. 67.

Waagen, G. F., Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain, supplement, IV, 1857, p. 141.

Kugler, F. T., Handbook of Painting: German, Flemish and Dutch Schools, (ed. J.A. Crowe), London, 1898, II, p. 478.

Wantage, Lady Harriet, A Catalogue of Pictures Forming the Collection of Lord and Lady Wantage, London, 1905, no. 103.

Bode, W., Great Masters of Dutch and Flemish Painting, London, 1909, p. 170.

Hofstede de Groot, C., Catalogue Raisonne: IV, 1912, no. 86.

Thime-Becker, Kunstlerlexicon, XVIII, 1924, p. 161.

Bremmer, H. P., Beeldende Kunst, 1932, no. 96, repr.

Frankfurter, A. M., "The Dutch Masters," Art News, Dec. 5, 1936, p. 9, repr.

Stechow, Wolfgang, Dutch Paintings in the 17th Century, 1938, Providence, Rhode Island Museum Press, no. 21, repr.

Broulhiet, G., Meindert Hobbema, 1638-1709, Paris, 1938, no. 22, repr. p. 113.

"News and Comment," American Magazine of Art, January 1939, p. 45, repr. p. 43.

O'Conner, J., Carnegie Magazine, March, 1940, p. 291.

Hannema, D., Catalogue of the H. E. ten Cate Collection, Rotterdam, 1955, no. 7.

Gelder, H. E. van, Holland by Dutch Artists, Amsterdam, 1959, p. 16, pl. 89.

Stechow, Wolfgang, Dutch Landscape Painting of the 17th Century, London, 1968, p. 77, note 52, p. 201, fig. 152.

"La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 73, no. 270, Feb. 1969, p. 64, repr.

"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 12, p. 4, Winter 1969, repr.

"La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 75, no. 1214, March 1970, p. 3.

"Outstanding Exhibitions," Apollo, vol. 91, no. 98, April 1970, p. 316.

"Treasures for Toledo," The Connoisseur, vol. 173, no. 698, April 1970, repr. p. 301, no. 9.

Davidson, Ruth, "Museum Accessions: Toledo's Treasures," Antiques vol. 97, no. 3, March 1970, p. 353, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 77, pl. 139.

Schulze, Franz, "A Mission of Discovery," Art News, vol. 76, no. 4, Apr. 1977, p. 66.

Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America, New York, 1979, p. 168.

Giltay, J., "De Tekeningen van Jacob van Ruisdael," OUD Holland, vol. 94, no. 2/3, 1980, p. 171.

Sutton, Peter C., Master of 17th Century Dutch Landscape Painting, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1987, p. 350, fig. 2.

Great Dutch Paintings from America, The Hague, 1990, p. 106.

Buijsen, Edwin, Tussen fantasie en werkelijkheid, Baarn, 1993, p. 198, fig. 3, p. 197.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 96, repr. (col.).

Keyes, George S., "Meindert Hobbema's Wooded Landscape with a Water Mill," Minneapolis Institute of Arts Bulletin vol. 67, 1995, pp. 47, 56, no. 15, fig. 5, p. 46.

Exhibition HistoryLondon, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition of Old Masters," 1870, no. 95.
London, Royal Academy, cat. no. 71, 1888.

London, Guildhall Art Gallery, catalogue by Sir A.G. Temple, no. 74, 1894.

Paris, Jou de Paume, Exposition Holandaise, cat. no. 22, 1921.

The Hague, Mauritshuis, 1921.

Dieren, D. Katz Galleries, cat. no. 25, 1935.

Brussels, Exposition Universelle, Cinq Siecles d'Art, catalogue by Baroness A. Houtart, no. 737, 1935.

Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Oude Kunst, cat. no. 74, 1936.

New York, The Great Dutch Masters, Schaeffer Galleries, cat. no. 8, and illus. 1936.

Rotterdam, Boymans Museum, Meesterwerken uit Vier Eeuwen, catalogue by D. Hannema, cat. no. 88, repr. 157, 1938.

New York, World's Fair, Masterpieces of Art, catalogue by A.M. Frankfurter and W.R. Valentiner, cat. no. 191, 1939.

Detroit, Institute of Art, Masterpieces of Art from Foreign Collections, cat. by F.W. Robinson, no. 21, repr. 1939.

San Francisco, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Seven Centuries of Paintings, cat. no. 163, with repr. Dec. 1939-Jan. 1940.

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Masterpieces of Art, European Paintings from the New York World's Fair and the Golden Gate International Exposition, cat. no. 24, repr. 13, 1940.

Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Masterpieces of Art from the New York and San Francisco World's Fairs, cat. no. 16, 1940.

Cincinnati, Cincinnati Art Museum, Masterpieces of Art, European Paintings from the New York World's Fair and the Golden Gate International Exposition, catalogue no. 35, repr. 6, 1941.

Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, Masterpieces of Art from European and American Collections: European Paintings from Two World's Fairs of 1939, catalogue by E. P. Richardson, no. 28, with repr., 1941.

New York, Duveen Galleries, Paintings by the Great Dutch Masters of the 17th Century, catalogue by G. H. McCall & A.J. Barnouw, cat. no. 27, with repr. 1942.

Montreal, Five Centuries of Dutch Art, cat. no. 86, 1944.

Eindhoven, van Abbe Museum, cat. no. 31, 1948.

Paris, Orangerie des Tuilleries, Le paysage hollandais au 17e siècle, catalogue foreward by G. Bazin, preface by A.B. de Viries, cat. no. 42, 1950.

Almelo, Oude Kunst uit Twents Particulier Bezit, catalogue by D. Hannema, cat. no. 23, repr. no. 33, 1953.

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art; Toronto, The Art Gallery of Toronto, Dutch Paintings, The Golden Age, preface to catalogue, Blake-More Godwin, introduction, Theodore Rousseau Jr., repr. no. 41, 1954-1955.

Rotterdam, Museum Boymans, Kunstschatten uit nederlandse Verzamelingen, 1955, no.77, repr.

The Hague, Cramer, Catalogue XIII, 1966-1967, p. 5 with illustration.
Label TextMeyndert Hobbema was the student of Jacob van Ruisdael and many of his images and motifs, including that of a watermill, come from his teacher’s work (see a painting by Ruisdael in this gallery). Hobbema specialized in forest scenes. In this painting the watermill seems to have grown into the forest that surrounds it. A wild stand of trees in the middle of the painting separates it from the farmland and distant village on the left side of the painting. The low horizon line and dramatic, cloud-filled sky are typical of Dutch landscape painting.