Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 4, 1912.djvu/364

SECTION XIV MEINDERT HOBBEMA MEINDERT HOBBEMA was born in 1638 at Amsterdam, and lived there till his death in December 1709. He was a friend of Ruisdael and, according to a trustworthy tradition, was his pupil. This connection must have been earlier than 1659, for we have several pictures by Hobbema certainly dated in that year. It thus arose in the years during which Ruisdael was living partly in Haarlem and partly in Amsterdam, although we have as yet no definite proof that he had any fixed abode in the capital. The relations between the two artists continued after Hobbema's student days were over. They made sketching-tours together. Several of their pictures show that the artists painted the same view, sitting, as it were, side by side. Among the instances that may be cited are Ruisdael's " Water-Mi 11 " (145) from the Van der Hoop collection now at Amsterdam and Hobbema's pictures of the same subject in the Widener collection (94) and in the Kums sale (108) ; and Ruisdael's "Ruins of the Castle of Brederode" (39) and Hobbema's pictures in the Wallace Collection (17), in the Fleischmann (18) and Frick (19) collections, and in the Konigs- warter sale (24). These pictures belong to the years 1661-63, Dut as ^ ate as 1668 the two artists were still on friendly terms, for in October of that year Ruisdael was a witness to the marriage contract between Hobbema and the cook of Lambert Reynst, the Burgomaster of Amsterdam. This marriage was a turning-point in Hobbema's life and marked the end of his artistic career. Through the influence of another maid-servant in the Burgomaster's household, he received a municipal appointment. He was made a " wijnroeier " ; that is to say, it was his duty to gauge the foreign casks, in which wine was imported into Amsterdam, and estimate their contents in the Amsterdam measure. This work required his whole time for forty years, and he gave up painting. One picture is said to have been painted by him after this, namely, " The Avenue, Middelharnis," in the National Gallery, London. The date on this canvas is mutilated and can only be read as 16-9; the remaining curve of the third figure may have formed part of a 6 as well as of an 8. C. G. 't Hooft the younger, about fifteen years ago, tried to show from external evidence such as the condition of the beacon at the harbour-entrance and the height of the