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- Nicolaes Berchem (1620 - 1683)
- The Ferry Boat
- Netherlands
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- Date: 1672/5
- Object Type: Painting
- Medium: Oil on mahogany panel
- Image size: 34 x 38.3 cm
- Inv: P183
- Location: East Galleries III
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- This painting is a wonderful example of Berchem’s evocative and highly atmospheric landscapes representing the countryside between Rome and Naples. A group of peasants stop to rest. A brightly dressed woman milks a goat while another, mounted on a horse, gestures languidly towards a man below who loads livestock onto a small boat. The painting calls to mind the beauty and warmth of Italy, and the slow rhythms of rural life. The body of water they prepare to cross is surrounded by large wooded outcrops forming a strong diagonal line leading towards woodland and mountains. The scene is suffused with mellow southern light.
The Ferry Boat, painted on a rare Mahogany support, was the first work by the artist to be acquired by the founders of the Wallace Collection. It was purchased in 1804 by the 3rd Marquess of Hertford, who advised the Prince Regent, future George IV on his purchases of Dutch Golden Age paintings. The painting must have appealed greatly to Lord Hertford’s son, the 4th Marquess of Hertford, who fifty years later added a further six paintings by Berchem to the collection, which is today one of the best places to see works by the artist in this country.
The conservation of The Ferry Boat was made possible in 2017 by the generous support of the John S Cohen Foundation
- This painting is a wonderful example of Berchem’s evocative and highly atmospheric landscapes representing the countryside between Rome and Naples. A group of peasants stop to rest. A brightly dressed woman milks a goat while another, mounted on a horse, gestures languidly towards a man below who loads livestock onto a small boat. The painting calls to mind the beauty and warmth of Italy, and the slow rhythms of rural life. The body of water they prepare to cross is surrounded by large wooded outcrops forming a strong diagonal line leading towards woodland and mountains. The scene is suffused with mellow southern light.