River Landscape, seen through the Trees

We stand on a slope, and between the dark trunks and leaves in front of us a wide river valley opens out. Vroom painted the distance mostly in pale greens and blues, and against them the black silhouettes of the nearest trees push the view even further back. Very little happens. Far off, a few hunters are walking, and in the foreground their dog is sniffing about. Vroom signed the panel on one of the trees, CVROOM, around 1638.

The painting is privately owned. Its owner lent it to the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, the painter's own city, from 1985, moved the loan to the Mauritshuis in 2007, and the following year promised it to the museum as a future gift.