The ingenuity of the composition is that it used a lot of tricks in the layout of the elements, meanwhile being rendered very simply ND concisely. The artist realized that the eye does not settle naturally on the center of a painting and that compositions that placed the main subject in the centre were not very pleasing to the eye. So he separated the painting into different parts both vertically, which might employed the rule Of thirds that was prevalent among landscape painters in that period.
Vertically, the lowest part mainly deals With human activities With great variety and detail; the middle part is the depiction of the river and buildings along the bank; and the highest part is costly occupied With the sky, using less texture and detail so as not to disturb the overall balance thus creating the effect of the landscape receding into the distance. In general, the distribution of people, and the layout of the trees, vessels and buildings along each side of the river creates a symmetrical balance which delivers a restful, calming and visually stable feeling.
Court incorporated a lot of elements in this painting to unfold the scene of an ordinary day of a harbor city. In the lower left corner, there are 6 horses which can be easily tell that are used for carrying goods. There are several boxes and ladders scattering around the horses and people carrying box off the horse unhurriedly. Not tar from them, there is a man rolling a barrel laden with goods and another man standing by the river, inserting a pole into it. In the right corner, there stands a man leaning on the bridge, looking into the distance.
Right beside him, stand four people hugging with each other, as if they are taking their farewell of each other. The shadow of the building in the foreground indicates the direction of the light, as well as create a chiaroscuro with the bright background. Across the river, A bank receding from right to left, leading our eye from the foreground all the way through the painting, where we can see a cluster of buildings, among which a gothic pinnacle towers aloft, reaching into the cloud. The river is calm and flat, with vessels happily becalmed.
The sky above them is clear and serene, With dense White clouds floating. The reflection Of the houses and the sky can be clearly seen in the surface of the crystal, mirror-like river. Court laid out all the subjects With minute exactness, clear outlines, thin brush work. His controlled ND careful stokes create a poetic beauty. The overall tone of the painting is light and pleasant. His palette is dominated by blue, white, and light grey, suggesting a sunny and warm climate and adding to the positive feeling of the peace and harmony of the life in a harbor city.
Through the delighting colors and bright light, the artist’s affection toward the slow-paced leisure simple life can be easily sensed. Very differently composed and painted is the landscape by Jan Van Gone, A Sandy Road With Thatched Cottages, it Offers the rustic scene Of a hot and arduous day. From the foreground, a wide sandy road meanders forward into the background, With piles Of straw and dilapidated cottages dotted along each side. In the lower left part, bundles of straw are stacked haphazardly on the ground and the roof.
Beside the pile Of straw Which has a wheel leaning against it a farmer is stooping to collect timbers. Before a thatched cottage in the middle of the painting, several farmers carrying farm tools and riding horses silhouetted in the shadows. They form in groups as if they were discussing some deliberate issues. On the other pile which sits in the other side of the Andy road, a slightly stout farmer with a straw hat is sitting on straws to have a rest. Beside him, an older villager leaning on his stick and a comparatively shorter man who is carrying a basket are talking to him as if they were pleading him for some reason.
The trees extend along the sandy road in a diagonal line, creating a spatial demarcation. In the far end of the road, there is a vague tall building with pinnacle roof. The sky above, which takes up nearly halt tooth painting, is pale and dusty, suggesting the end of the day in a hot arid climate. The employment of color and light, and the treatment of the strokes in Oxygen’s matting also differ a lot from Carrot’s, On Oxygen’s palette is a color collection of neutral grays, numbers, ochre and earthen greens that looked like they were pulled from the very soil he painted.
Although the cloudy sky with patches of blue kind of sets off the earth colors of the land below, the darkened foreground is still Very Obvious as if the light striking these sections is lost and absorbed into the ground, creating a strong sense of contrast and the illusion of spatial relief in the distance. Gone didn’t treat every stroke With minute exactness as Court id, the thatched cottages are even a little bit distorted. However, the techniques he used created a very fluid surface, masterfully Whipped and modeled With the brush.
By depicting different natural elements, these two painting actually form a comparison between city culture and rustic culture. I’d say Carrot’s painting is of great quality because of its ingenuous composition and exquisite depiction of all the elements. The painting envelopes the spectator in a joyful mood because when looking at a Court painting, one can almost feel the warm breeze in the trees or taste the salted air near the seashore.
