The Fir-Trees at the Water

By the mid 17th century, Dutch landscape etching had become rather formulaic in motif and technique. The great individualists were Rembrandt, Ruisdael, who translated the romantic melancholy of his paintings –– note the impression above –– and Everdingen. Everdingen’s compositions echo the arbitrary structure and complicated patterning of Mannerist landscape, while featuring unusual motifs –– mountains, rushing streams and pines –– studied during trips to Scandinavia in the early 1640s. No less distinctive from the usual comfort of Dutch landscape, they do not seem to welcome human occupation, and their mood is often ominous. These qualities are all exaggerated in this extraordinary impression, probably a working proof, in which the subtlest passage prints clearly, the seeming color varies widely, and a rich surface tone of ink imparts the heavy atmosphere of an impending storm.