Jan Dirksz Both Enter a
feeling, not
a gallery.
Choose a mood and the room itself answers — the light cools or warms, the air changes pace, and only the works that carry that feeling step forward from the dark. Everything else recedes into shadow.
Jan Dirksz Both
A Golden Light on the Italianate Landscape: The Life and Art of Jan Dirksz Both Jan Dirksz Both, a name perhaps less immediately recognizable than some of his Dutch Golden Age contemporaries, nevertheless occupies a pivotal position in the development of landscape painting. Born in Utrecht sometime between 1610 and 1618, and passing away on August 9th, 1652, Both dedicated his life to capturing the beauty – and often, the imagined gran
deur – of Italy. His canvases weren’t simply depictions of places; they were imbued with a romantic sensibility, a golden Mediterranean light that would come to define a particular strain within Dutch Italianate painting. He wasn't working in isolation, however. Both was part of a family of artists; his brother, Andries Both, also a painter, shared early training with him under their father, who worked as a glass-painter or glazier. Th…
