Barend Cornelis Koekkoek artwork • painting • previously for sale Figures at the ruins of a town gate

Barend Cornelis Koekkoek is the most famous Dutch Romantic painter. He trained with his father, J.H. Koekkoek, and also took lessons at the art academy in Middelburg. He later lived in Amsterdam and Hilversum, but also travelled widely in the Netherlands, Belgium and the Rhineland, seeking motifs for his idealised romantic landscapes. In 1843, Koekkoek settled permanently in the German town of Cleves, where he also founded a drawing academy. Exceptionally gifted, Koekkoek was a much admired painter, with long waiting lists of people willing to bide their time for years to own one of his beloved landscapes.