This exquisite pair of landscapes was painted early in Van Goyen's career. He trained for a year between 1617 and 1618 in the Haarlem studio of Esaias van de Velde, and the paintings he produced in the following years, up until around 1626, clearly reflect the influence of his master. Along with circular formats, of which his earliest dated example is from 1620, Van Goyen favoured rather elongated rectangles for some of his first paintings, from 1622, seemingly for the opportunity they provided for the depiction of a broad setting, full of all sorts of narrative content – even when on a very small scale, as is the case here.

These pendants, representing Summer and Winter, are enlivened with colourful details ranging from the activities of figures in the foreground, right the way into the distance, where the horizon lines are animated with the outlines of a church spire, village buildings, and trees either bare or in leaf. Van Goyen painted several pendants depicting Summer and Winter at the start of his career, such as the roundels of 1621 (Staatliche Museen, Berlin),¹ which are in the tradition of Flemish series of The Four Seasons and the illustration of activities associated with those months.

In their low horizon lines and seamless transition from foreground to background without the use of artificial compositional devices, however, these landscapes demonstrate an important step in Van Goyen's early development. Much of the execution and use of colour, particularly in the more thickly-painted details in the foreground, hark back to the technique of Van de Velde. But unlike in other early works, where the foreground occupies at least half the composition and the staffage and architecture are the primary subjects, here the exploration of expansive skies, the wide scope of the vistas, and the subtle employment of atmospheric perspective all foreshadow the unmistakable, evocative works of the artist's full maturity.

¹ Inv. no. 865b; https://recherche.smb.museum/detail/869495 and https://recherche.smb.museum/detail/869496