The Watermill with the Great Red Roof

Meindert Hobbema · c. 1665

Medium

Oil on canvas

Original size

81.3 × 110 cm (32 × 43 1/4 in.); Framed: 101.3 × 130.5 × 8.3 cm (39 7/8 × 51 3/8 × 3 1/4 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Baroque

Few Dutch Golden Age landscapes balance the rustic and the radiant quite like Hobbema's sun-dappled mill scene, where a weathered watermill anchors a composition alive with reflected light and quietly animated sky. Meindert Hobbema was a pupil of Jacob van Ruisdael, and while he absorbed his master's command of atmosphere and foliage, he developed a warmer, more grounded sensibility — one that found its subject in working rural life rather than dramatic wilderness. In this canvas he layers thick, textured brushwork across the mill timbers and rooftiles, then softens the surrounding trees with loose, flickering strokes that suggest wind and shifting afternoon light. The red roof itself functions almost as a tonal anchor, pulling the eye through the composition before releasing it into the luminous sky above. Hobbema painted watermills repeatedly throughout the 1660s, a motif that clearly fascinated him, though this version — with its warm tonal harmony and confident spatial depth — is widely considered among the finest of the group. Our hand-painted oil reproduction faithfully replicates Hobbema's layered technique and earthy palette, giving you a canvas that carries the same textural presence and quiet warmth as the original hanging in Chicago.