River Landscape

The picture shows a river landscape with elegant travelers and a beggar in a dune landscape. Throughout his career, Wynants drew inspiration for his landscapes from the dunes near his native Haarlem. The artist often employed a similar compositional structure in his landscapes, with a path winding through the undulating dunes and receding into the distance.

Here, as in many of his paintings, the left side of the picture is built up with dunes and trees while the right side opens up to a panoramic view, creating a sense of space.

The staffage in Wynants’s paintings was often added by other artists. In the present case Johannes Lingelbach was the collaborator.