Italian Landscape with Resting Travelers, Jan Both

Artwork Overview

Jan Both, Italian Landscape with Resting Travelers
Jan Both, Italian Landscape with Resting Travelers
Jan Both
Italian Landscape with Resting Travelers
circa 1638–1640
Jan Both, artist
circa 1618–1652
Italian Landscape with Resting Travelers, circa 1638–1640
Where object was made: Dutch Republic (present-day Netherlands)
Material/technique: canvas; oil
Dimensions:
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 128.27 x 121.92 x 5.08 in
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 109.2 x 102.9 cm
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 43 x 40 1/2 in
Credit line: Museum purchase: Helen Foresman Spencer Art Acquisition Fund and State funds; Gift by exchange in memory of Senator August W. Lauterbach; of Richard T. Shields and Caroline Shields Walker in memory of Mrs. Edwin Shields; of J. Jean and Julian J. Aberbach
Accession number: 1986.0035
Not on display
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Exhibition Label:
"Empire of Things," 2013, Kate Meyer
Jan Both, one of the most celebrated of the Dutch Italianate landscape painters, introduced a new type of large-format landscape to Holland. Rather than depicting the flat Dutch landscape, Both draws from his Roman travels to paint a rocky Italian landscape warmed by golden southern light. In this painting, two men relax, sharing the road with another figure on a cart pulled by a plodding pair of oxen. The crystalline depiction of the figures and foliage in the foreground gives way to glowing yet hazy terrain that suggests an inviting destination for the travelers. Art theorist Karel van Mander (1548-1601) encouraged artists to complete their education by studying art of antiquity and the Renaissance in Rome. The large number of Italianate landscapes that Both produced during his short career attests to the significant market demand for such pictures.

Archive Label:
Jan Both trained in Italy as a young artist and became an exceedingly talented member of the second generation of Dutch Italianate landscapists. These artists combined Italian landscape elements such as penetrating, diffused sunlight; rolling forested hillsides; and ancient architectural ruins with representations of typical Dutch peasants participating in everyday activities.
Both's painting is a serene depiction of humanity in nature; the travelers rest in the hazy sunlight of the early morning while the landscape comes alive with soft, rolling clouds in the sky and ships sailing in the background. The clarity of the figures and vegetation in the foreground contrast the almost imperceptible ruins in the distance.
Jan Both returned to Utrecht around 1641 and probably executed this painting shortly thereafter. He painted until his untimely death in 1652. Both's influence is evident in the work of later major artists in Amsterdam and Haarlem.

Archive Label:
Jan Both, who worked in Rome during the late 1630s, was one of the most talented and influential painters of the 17th century Dutch Italianate landscape school. He was responsible for developing a new mode of landscape characterized by pastoral settings populated by peasants traveling along the road with ancient ruins faintly visible in the golden light of the Italian countryside. He painted specific times of day - morning, noon, midday or sunset. Here, the lyrical qualities of the evening sun envelop the landscape in an atmosphere of poetic tranquility. This aspect of Both’s style was inspired by his French contemporary and competitor, Claude Lorrain. However, Both abandoned Claude’s classical landscape with its prominent ruins and mythological scenes. He turned instead to the everyday life of Roman peasants while also maintaining the characteristic Netherlandish attention to detail.
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Both’s landscapes were especially esteemed, and no respectable collection was considered complete without an example of his work. His biography remains uncertain and little is known of his style before his trip to Italy. Admitted to the Academy of St. Luke in Rome in 1638, Both remained there with his brother, Andries, until the latter’s death in 1641, at which point he returned to Utrecht. While Andries is thought to have contributed figures to many of his brother’s early landscapes, in this instance Jan himself painted the travelers and animals.

Exhibitions

Empire of Things
Kris Ercums, curator
Kate Meyer, curator
2013–2015
Google Art Project
2016
Empire of Things
Kris Ercums, curator
Kate Meyer, curator
2016–2021

Resources

Audio

Didactic – Art Minute
Didactic – Art Minute
Episode 252. I’m David Cateforis with another art minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. In the seventeenth century many Dutch artists made the dangerous journey to Italy to bask in that country’s warmth and legendary artistic riches. These artists frequently depicted the Italian campagna, or countryside, painting landscapes often characterized by mountainous terrain and a warm Mediterranean glow, both doubtless appealing to these Northerners from a flat country. Jan Both was one of the most famous of these so-called Dutch Italianates, and his Travelers Resting in the Spencer is one of the finest surviving examples of the genre. Jan traveled to Rome in the 1630s and joined the community of Dutch artists there for several years before returning to his home in the Netherlands. Jan continued making landscapes of Italy after his return - most likely using sketches from his trip - and was apparently quite successful in this endeavor. At least three painted copies of Travelers Resting survive in collections around the world, and Jan also repeated the composition in a widely-circulated etching. Scholars agree that the Spencer canvas is the original composition that inspired these other works. With thanks to Robert Fucci for his text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Italian Landscape with Resting Travellers by Jan Both is a very simple name to a piece of art that some may call very simple in itself. Just a landscape painting of some obscure place in Europe... Right? Well, maybe not. What some view as simplistic or uncomplicated, others could view as extravagant, daring, or even brilliant. Take for example the use of color in this piece. In the landscape, the colors don't seem to vary that much. Splashes of orange and yellow in a faraway sunset blend in nicely to the hills and trees seen closer in the painting, which are varying shades of green and brown. This use of color (the blending of warm colors into cool colors and vice versa) was very popular during the Renaissance. The Renaissance. A time of "renewal," literally, was an era between the 14th century A.D. and the 17th century A.D. where art flourished throughout Europe, inspiring any and all who could appreciate it. Italy is credited majorly for the start of the Renaissance, establishing an importance of art which would intrigue people all over the west. One of these people, was a young man by the name of Jan Dirksz Both, a young artist travelling to Rome with his brother Adries Both. The Boths were born in Utrecht in the early 1600s and the Boths first learned to paint from their father, whose profession was a glass painter, or glazier. Jan focused majorly on landscapes, which is what he is most famous for, creating elegant scenes with a mixture of cool and warm colors. In his paintings, often small figures of people or animals are very vibrant in color, making them pop more to the eye. He often portrayed scenes of the Mediterranean, but more exotic in flora. But Jan didn't limit himself to just the Mediterranean. He travelled all over Europe and parts of Asia, captivating people with the beauty of his art. Beauty. How do we define a word that is based solely on opinion? Some might say beauty is a common acceptance of something aesthetically pleasing, others would say something that is naturally pleasing to the eye, while others argue it can't be defined at all. In this piece, it's entirely possible the artist isn't trying to show something beautiful at all. It could be that he's simply trying to get people to talk about it, whether or not they call it simple or extravagant, beautiful or meaningless, they are expressing their opinion, their individuality. After all, the Renaissance heavily promoted individuality, branching away from the secular beliefs that don't matter in the grand scheme of things, and through his art Jan Both is keeping that part of the Renaissance alive. I find this piece beautiful not because of the actual painting style or use of color, but by the questions it asks. Who are those travelers choosing to rest under that tree? Why are they resting there? Where are they? Where are they going? Etc. The piece creates a vivid world that seems as though people were living in it long before I laid my eyes on it and long after I turn my head away. And the fact that a canvas that is small enough to be put up onto a wall can tell such an intriguing story is beautiful. This has been Jared Cote, with another Bulldog Podcast.