The Ferry

In a country cut through by rivers and canals, a ferry like this was part of everyday life, and in 1622 Esaias van de Velde made one the subject of a panel more than a metre wide. The museum calls it a milestone, because no Dutch painter before him had shown the flat, watery home landscape at such a monumental size. The flat-bottomed boat is loaded with a horse and cart, a cow and a crowd of passengers, while the ferryman pushes off with a long pole. Evening is coming on and the light is fading. The river bends away past a village church and a windmill, with boats drawn up on the bank, and on the right a rider trots along the road. Ducks paddle in the foreground. The signature, E. V. VELDE 1622, sits at the lower right.