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An Extensive Valley with a Distant City

about 1662–1665
29 1/2 x 40 1/2 in. (74.93 x 102.87 cm)

Aert van der Neer (Dutch, 1603–1677)

Medium: Oil on canvas
Credit Line: Bequest of Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft
Accession Number: 1931.468
Currently on View in: Virtue & Vice (6)

Exhibition History
Quebec. Art Association of Montreal. Benefit Exhibition for Children of Great Britain, Netherlands, and Other Occupied Countries, March 9–April 9, 1944.
Minnesota. Minneapolis Institute of Arts. November 6, 2001–August 6, 2003, (during TMA renovation).
Ohio. Cincinnati Museum Center. Borrowed Gems from the Taft Museum of Art, July 23, 2021–February 21, 2022.

Gallery Label
In this sprawling landscape framed by trees, peasants walk, hunt, rest, and converse with each other. A city appears on the horizon, its most visible feature a church. Aert van der Neer painted details of rocks, foliage, grazing cattle, flying birds, and distant buildings. A few golden-leaved trees suggest autumn is approaching, and pink-tinged clouds evoke the atmosphere of early sunset. The painting emphasizes the mostly flat topography of the Netherlands in a view that embraces agricultural and urban features.

Provenance
(Acquired by Scott and Fowles, New York, NY); purchased by Charles Phelps Taft [1843-1929] and Anna Sinton Taft [1850-1931], Cincinnati, OH, October 31, 1911; donated to the Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts, Cincinnati, OH, May 21, 1927 [1]; transferred to the Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH, September 1, 2006 [2].

Notes:

[1]. The Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts (CIFA) was formed by Charles Phelps and Anna Sinton Taft on March 22, 1927 as a non-profit corporation to stimulate the development of art and music in the City of Cincinnati and run the Taft Museum of Art, which opened in 1932. The Tafts offered $1 million for a permanent endowment fund, on the condition that the community raise $2.5 million in matching funds, which was achieved by December 3, 1928. [2]. Until August 31, 2006, the Museum was owned by CIFA, administered by CIFA’s Board of Trustees, and governed by the Taft Museum Board of Overseers. On September 1, 2006, the Museum legally separated from CIFA and began operations as its own incorporated 501(c)(3) entity. This separate incorporation led to the transfer to the separate entity after August 31, 2006 of all tangible assets comprising the Taft collection.

Collection Lists
This artwork is in the following list(s):




 
 
 
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