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Johannes Christiaan Karel Klinkenberg specialized in the historic cityscape, often sun-drenched, the facades reflecting in the water of a canal or inland harbour. Contemporaries admired the sunlight effect in his paintings: a strong, brilliant light that brightened the white sandstone and red brick of the Old Dutch facades.
Klinkenberg was born in The Hague, where he would live, work and ultimately die for most of his life. He trained at the Hague Drawing Academy where he was taught by the maritime painter Louis Meyer. After his death, he apprenticed with the history-genre painter Christoffel Bisschop. From Bisschop he learned to deal with light and reflection, which would play an important role in his work. Initially in his historical genre paintings, but soon in the sunny Dutch cityscape which would become his specialty. In contrast to the sometimes heavy and dark cityscapes of his contemporaries George Hendrik Breitner and Floris Arntzenius, Klinkenberg's scenes appear light and cheerful. Sunlight plays over the ocher and brown colored houses that are reflected in the water. Trees are usually a fresh green – only occasionally does he paint in winter – and the sky and water are blue. The characteristic gray of the Hague School is absent in his work. Figures never play the leading role, rather Klinkenberg was charmed by the boats he saw in the canals and inland harbors of the Dutch water towns. To achieve a balanced, perfect composition, he places historical buildings where he thinks they look best in his paintings, but they are always recognizable. The sunny character and topographical character of his paintings make his work popular with collectors at home and abroad. From the age of 23 he has been showered with awards and wherever he exhibits his work sells well.
The vast majority of his works concern Dutch cities, with an emphasis on Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam. In Amsterdam his favorite subjects were views of the St. Nicholas Church, the Montelbaanstoren, the Ronde Lutherse Kerk or the Munt. Klinkenberg was not a striking personality and could not easily reconcile with the new art movements of the turn of the century. However, he was a hard-working and very productive painter.
