Cornelis VREEDENBURGH (1880 - 1946) - View of Montebaanstoren in Amsterdam

Oil on canvas signed and dated by Cornelis VREEDENBURGH (1880 woerden - Laren 1946) and dated 1920, depicting a view of Montebaanstoren in Amsterdam.

Signed and dated 1920

Dimensions without frame: Length: 120 cm Width: 90.5 cm
Dimensions with frame: Length: 140cm Width: 110cm

Cornelis Vreedenburgh was largely self-taught. Originally a house painter by trade, he drew and painted only in his spare time until a royal scholarship enabled him to devote himself entirely to his art in 1904. WB Tholen was a trusted adviser and often took Vreedenburgh sail on the Kaag and Loosdrechtse lakes. His rich palette and ability to render the light and atmospheric effects of the Dutch landscape immediately made his images of pastures and water scenes immensely popular. In 1918 Vreedenburgh moved to Laren, where he produced many views of Amsterdam.
His assertive style is inspired by the great painters of the 17th century as well as by the impressionism of the Dutch school (Aert Van den Neer, Johan Barthold Jongkind, Van Tholen). His works receive great interest from collectors, his contemporaries and the general public.
We find in his paintings the atmosphere of the ports, the daily life of the inhabitants, through the diaphanous colors provided by the light on the buildings and on the water, the vital element of the country. The canals and water of Amsterdam in particular were an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the painter. Van Calker says of the mood on one of these urban landscapes: "when the autumn mist wraps the tall houses at the water's edge in a gray veil and a single yellow leaf floats on the water , while the boats are quietly moored to the side”.
Montelbaanstoren emblematic tower of Amsterdam at the junction of two canals, whose origin dates back to the beginning of the 16th century, was painted by the great masters of Dutch painting; it symbolizes the attachment of the Dutch to trade by river.

In conclusion Vreedenburg was a gifted and passionate impressionist artist, who left behind him a captivating vast body of work with which he occupies a special place in the history of art.

Artist's exhibition:

- 1913 salon Netherlands exibition toronto Canada
- 1916 San Diego USA International Exhibition
- 1937 retrospective exhibition at the Kunstzaal Hamdorff in Laren where all his paintings were sold.
- 1939 exhibition sale "Onze Kunst van Heden" at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam