Jan Wildens, Landscape with Dancing Shepherds, 1631

by Atelier Liesjes

Two dense groups of trees enclose a clearing at the edge of a pond. In the centre, a man and a woman are sitting on the ground: he is wearing a red coat and a felt hat, playing a shawm; she is wearing a white bonnet and a dark skirt, with her back to us. On the right, a couple are dancing: a man in a dark suit and a woman in a red skirt with a white bodice, her arms raised. All around, sheep and goats lie in the grass; a billy goat is climbing up the slope, and a dog is stretched out amongst the animals. At the edge of the pond stands a broken, bare tree trunk, and on the far right, a man with a walking stick is walking along a fence. In the distance, on the left, a village with a church tower is visible amongst the tree trunks, and the sky is pearly grey with long, golden streaks. Here, Wilden paints an Arcadian scene: shepherds making music and dancing in a landscape that is bountiful and welcoming. The figures are small in comparison to the trees; the landscape is the true protagonist. The colours are rich and warm: olive green, umber, golden yellow in the sky and bright red in the clothing. The paint is thin and transparent in the treetops; the leaves are rendered with loose, curling strokes; and the light falls in broad bands through the opening above the pond.
Jan Wildens (Antwerp 1586 – Antwerp 1653) was one of the most important Antwerp landscape painters of his time and a valued collaborator of Rubens, for whom he painted the landscapes in major works. He travelled to Italy and became a master of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1604. A spacious, summery work for a classical interior.