Landscape at Sunset

Rafel Govertsz Camphuijsen (signed by artist), c. 1654 - c. 1657

Landschap bij zonsondergang. Een landweg leidt over een bruggetje naar een boerderij. In de verte een dorp.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-1939
  • Dimensionssupport: height 46.5 cm x width 63.3 cm, outer size: depth 8.5 cm (support incl. frame)
  • Physical characteristicsoil on panel

Rafel Govertsz Camphuijsen

Landscape at Sunset

c. 1654 - c. 1657

Inscriptions

  • signature, bottom left:R. Camphuijsen

Technical notes

The support consists of two planks with a horizontal grain. The thinned support is bevelled at the bottom, left and right. The bevel at the top is not visible due to the presence of a cradle. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1637. The panel could have been ready for use by 1648, but a date in or after 1654 is more likely. The thin ground layer is light in colour. The paint layers were applied in a lively manner with visible brushmarks and impasto throughout.

Scientific examination and reports

  • technical report: G. Tauber, RMA, 17 mei 2002
  • dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 2 mei 2005

Condition

Fair. There are disturbing areas of retouching, particularly in the sky. The varnish is matte at the areas of retouching, and has discoloured severely.

Provenance

...; sale, Gijsbert de Clercq (1850-1911), Amsterdam (F. Muller), 1 June 1897, no. 11, bought in; from Gijsbert de Clercq to the Vereniging Rembrandt, 1899;1Verslagen 1901, p. 13; note RMA. from the Vereniging Rembrandt, fl. 120, to the museum, 1901

Object number: SK-A-1939

Credit line: Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt

The artist

Biography

Rafel Govertsz Camphuijsen (Gorinchem 1598 - Amsterdam 1657)

Rafel Govertsz Camphuijsen was born in Gorinchem between 12 August and 24 October 1598 according to statements about his age in two documents. The name of his teacher is not known, but he may have studied with Dirck Govertsz of Gorinchem, whose work is no longer known. Camphuijsen came from an artistic family, and among other relatives his brother Jochem Govertsz and his cousin Govert Dircksz were also painters. In 1626 he was living in Amsterdam, and he married Machtelt Crosé van Hersberghe in Sloterdijk. In 1642 he was a witness at the baptism of a daughter of Aert van der Neer. He was buried in Amsterdam’s Nieuwe Kerk on 23 October 1657. Camphuijsen’s paintings are mentioned in estate inventories from 1627 on, so he was definitely active before then. Today there are around 14 known landscapes from his hand, most of them river scenes by moonlight or with a rising or setting sun, and a few winter landscapes. His work is related to that of Aert van der Neer, and it is assumed that Rafel Govertsz, Jochem Govertsz and Aert van der Neer influenced each other.

Yvette Bruijnen, 2007

References
Obreen V, 1882-83, pp. 125, 129; Bredius/Moes 1903, pp. 196-200; Moes in Thieme/Becker V, 1911, p. 466; Bachmann 1970, pp. 243-44; Bachmann 1980, pp. 7-67; Tissink/De Wit 1987, p. 73

Entry

This signed painting is a representative example of Camphuijsen’s river landscapes at sunset: an uncluttered, peaceful composition in which the handling of light plays a key role. The low, early evening sun imparts warm red tints to the clouds, the water and the path. It is above all the sky, which takes up the greater part of the composition, that establishes the mood of the scene.

With his landscapes by moonlight and at sunrise and sunset, such as this one, Camphuijsen is regarded as the teacher and inspirer of the younger Aert van der Neer, but Bachmann has put that assumption into perspective.2For this discussion see Bachmann 1980, pp. 20-27. He has pointed out that, leaving aside the identical subject matter, stylistic similarities between the two artists are few and far between. Nothing more can be assumed than personal contacts and knowledge of each other’s work.

Camphuijsen seems to have had a preference for paintings of this size, for his oeuvre contains a relatively large number of panels measuring approximately 48 x 64 cm.3Bachmann 1980, p. 11.

Bachmann dated the Rijksmuseum painting around the mid-1640s,4Bachmann 1980, p. 42. but dendrochronological examination has shown that it was painted later, in 1648 at the earliest, but more probably after 1654.

Yvette Bruijnen, 2007

See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues
See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements

This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 42.

Literature

Bredius/Moes 1903, p. 198; Bol 1969, p. 173; Bachmann 1970, p. 244; Tissink/De Wit 1987, p. 73; Bachmann 1980, pp. 40-44, no. IV

Collection catalogues

1903, p. 70, no. 680; 1934, pp. 68-69, no. 1657; 1976, p. 163, no. A 1939; 2007, no. 42

Citation

Y. Bruijnen, 2007, 'Rafaël (I) Camphuysen, Landscape at Sunset, c. 1654 - c. 1657', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20027693

(accessed 8 December 2025 20:47:30).

Footnotes

  • 1Verslagen 1901, p. 13; note RMA.
  • 2For this discussion see Bachmann 1980, pp. 20-27.
  • 3Bachmann 1980, p. 11.
  • 4Bachmann 1980, p. 42.