There are many Dutch painters I am in complete awe of. This is not one of those though, I think. This painting is a bit drab and looks as though it needs restoration. As though his colours are light affected or the varnish or oils have yellowed. It's fairly basic too. Looking him up: "Hobbema is not mentioned by Arnold Houbraken, the Vasari of the Dutch Golden Age, or indeed any literary source during his lifetime at all, and his work rarely appears in early auction catalogues, fetching little when it does." Apparently Constable loved him and I can see how he followed Hobbema's lead in using variegated lighting - although Constable's work is grand by comparison.
The Dutch Golden Age is a period roughly spanning the whole of 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. Like Kenneth Clark I would argue this painting shows itself to be of the latter part of that period. The issue is that reason isn't the driving force any more but experience. Clark furthermore did point to the smugness of bourgeois capitalism for a cause of this change. The paintings get more richer in the amount of detail and such, but for me also less beautiful
