Ansicht von Leiden, Galgewater, historische Schiffe im alten Hafen, die Windmühle Molen de Put und die Rembrandt Brücke

Dutchscapes

Homage to Vermeer and Rembrandt

When I received a request from the American magazine Condé Nast Traveler asking if I would like to photograph a series of images about the Netherlands in the style of an homage to its great painters Rembrandt and Vermeer, I didn’t have to think twice.

Vermeer’s paintings have captivated me since my early days as a photographer, and I studied the light in Rembrandt and Vermeer’s works very closely from an early age in order to learn from them.

I had soft light in mind, ideally from the side, and a certain colourfulness. Once there, I realised that Dutch light is actually somewhat different, perhaps due to the flat landscape, the abundance of water and the fine clouds that softened the light during my journey. In any case, it was just right for my purposes.
The photographs are, of course, tiny fragments of the real Dutch landscape, more like a view through a picture frame than a purely documentary record.

One stop on this journey was Delft. I had a vague idea of photographing Vermeer’s ‘View of Delft’, not as a pure copy, but as my appreciation for this work.

I named the series ‘Dutchscapes’, also as a tribute to a wonderful country and its artists.