Sunset on the Rhine
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
32 1/4 x 42 3/8 in. (81.9 x 107.6 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Bequest of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1887
Accession Number
87.15.45
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *Sunset on the Rhine (1853), a luminous oil-on-canvas masterpiece by Barend Cornelis Koekek, the renowned Dutch painter often hailed as the "prince of landscapists." Measuring 32¼ x 42⅜ inches, this evocative work captures the majestic Rhine River at dusk, where golden sunlight bathes the winding waters, lush banks, and distant hills in a serene, almost ethereal glow. Koekkoek, a figure in 19th-century Romanticism, specialized in such idealized landscapes, blending meticulous detail with a profound reverence for nature's beauty and tranquility. Painted during the height of Romanticism,...
About the Artist
Barend Cornelis Koekkoek · 1803–1862
Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, born on October 11, 1803, in Middelburg, Netherlands, emerged from a prolific family of artists as the son of marine painter Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek and Anna van Koolwijk. His brothers—Hermanus, Johannes, and Marinus Adrianus—also pursued painting, specializing in marine and river scenes or decorative works. Koekkoek received his earliest training from his father befor...