Editing Jan van Goyen (section)

==Van Goyen's technique==
[[File:Jan van Goyen - Wageningen, MdbK Leipzig.png|thumb|''[[Wageningen]]'' (1650), oil on paper, 24.6 x 39.9&nbsp;cm., [[Museum der bildenden Künste]]]]
Jan van Goyen would begin a painting using a support primarily of thin oak wood. To this panel, he would scrub on several layers of a thin animal [[Animal glue|hide glue]]. With a blade, he would then scrape over the entire surface a thin layer of tinted white lead to act as a [[ground (drawing surface)|ground]] and to fill the low areas of the panel. The ground was tinted light brown, sometimes reddish, or ochre in colour.

Next, van Goyen would loosely and very rapidly sketch out the scene to be painted with pen and ink without going into the small details of his subject. This [[walnut ink]] drawing can be clearly seen in some of the thinly painted areas of his work. For a guide, he would have turned to a detailed drawing. The scene would have been drawn from life outdoors and then kept in the studio as reference material. Drawings by artists of the time were rarely works of art in their own right as they are viewed today.

On his palette he would grind out a colour collection of neutral grays, umbers, ochre and earthen greens that looked like they were pulled from the very soil he painted. A [[Jacques Maroger|varnish oil medium]] was used as vehicle to grind his powdered pigments into paint and then used to help apply thin layers of paint which he could easily blend.

[[File:Jan van Goyen 012.jpg|thumb|''River Landscape with Windmill and Ruined Castle'' (1644), oil on canvas, 97 x 133.5&nbsp;cm., [[Louvre]]]]
The dark areas of the painting were kept very thin and transparent with generous amounts of the oil medium. The light striking the painting in these sections would be lost and absorbed into the painting ground. The lighter areas of the picture were treated heavier and opaque with a generous amount of white lead mixed into the paint. Light falling on the painting in a light section is reflected back at the viewer. The effect is a startling realism and three-dimensional quality. The surface of a finished painting resembles a fluid supple mousse, masterfully whipped and modeled with the brush.

According to the art historian H.&nbsp;U. Beck, "In his freely composed seascapes of the 1650s he reached the apex of his creative work, producing paintings of striking perfection."<ref>H.&nbsp;U. Beck. "Goyen, Jan van." ''Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online''. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 August 2014.</ref>

Some of Van Goyen's Works can be seen at [[Thyssen Bornemisza Museum|the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum]] in Madrid, one from the public collection (''Winter landscape with figures on ice'', 1643) and others from the Carmen Thyssen Collection also shown there (''River Landscape with Ferry boat and Cottages'', 1634).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/goyen-jan-josephsz-van|title=Goyen, Jan Josephsz. van|website=Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza|access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref>