Aert van der Neer (Gorinchem 1603 - Amsterdam 1677) Wide river landscape by moonlight with figures fishing and a village beyond. Oil on Panel, 53 x 77.8cm Signed with initials Renowned for his bleak winter landscapes, Aert van der Neer is one of the leading landscape artists of the Dutch Golden Age. Considered an expert in painting scenes lit by moonlight, this particular atmospheric work is typical of his well established style, masterfully portraying the effect of moonlight on a river landscape and a Dutch village in the distance. Born in the Netherlands, van der Neer spent most of his life in and around Amsterdam. It is thought he only began painting in his late 20s and would go on to make a number of collaborations with the landscape artist, Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691). Provenance: Nathusius, Amsterdam; Sale Amsterdam (Mak van Waay) 20th November 1951, lot 95, ill,; Sale Amsterdam (Mak van Waay) 24th January 1967, lot 505 p. 28, ill,; Leonard Koetser, London (Cat. Spring 1967, no. 4 p. 10, ill. p.11); John Viccars, London; Sotheby’s London, 4th December 2014, lot 162; Private Collection, United Kingdom; Sale Roseberys London, 21 November 2019, lot 26, reproduced. Exhibitions Leonard Koetser Gallery, London, Spring Exhibition, 1967, no. 4. Literature: W. Schulz, Aert van der Neer, Doornspijk 2002, p. 276, cat. no. 606. Artist description: Aert van der Neer grew up in Arkel a town on the river Waal just east of Dordrecht. Later he resided in Amsterdam where he was an important painter of moonlight and winter landscapes. Aert’s earliest known painting is a genre scene dated 1632, now in the Nardoni Galerie in Prague. His early landscapes reveal close stylistic affinities with the work of the brothers Joachim and Rafel Camphuyzen , but also influence of Alexander Kierincx, Gillis Claesz. d’Hondecoeter and Roelandt Savery all so- called artists of the Frankenthal School, who took the idiom of the Flemish landscape painting to the Netherlands..