*This painting is sold but the artist is regularly available in our inventory		Aert van der Neer* c. 1603 - Amsterdam - 1677 Moonlit Landscape Oil on canvas 19 3/4 x 24 3/8 inches (49.5 x 62 cm) Aert van der Neer began working as an amateur in figure painting while working as a steward for a wealthy family in Gorinchem. Most likely the artist studied with Gorinchem landscape painter Robert Camphuysen. After Van der Neer married, he returned to Amsterdam around 1630 to run an inn. Two of his sons, Johannes and Eglon, were his students and indeed Eglon van der Neer became a highly regarded portrait and genre master. As did many of his contemporaries, Aert van der Neer continuously struggled against financial difficulties. Together with his son Johannes, he ran an inn at the Kalverstraat but a bankruptcy in 1662 forced him to sell most of his assets, including paintings. Van der Neer died in impoverished conditions in 1677. It was not until artists of the Romantic period began to depict moonlight or sunlight as a subject itself that Van der Neer earned the fame which eluded him in his own lifetime. Van der Neer's early work illustrates the predominant influence of elder landscapists including Esias van de Velde and Hendrik Avercamp. In the second half of the 1640s, he developed a far more personal style, carefully painting balanced panoramic summer and winter river landscapes which are often of a particularly poetic nature. Van der Neer's earliest known dated work is from 1632. His subjects include winter scenes, landscapes with rivers or canals at dawn or dusk with nocturnal fires, views of towns with buildings and marines.