Meindert Hobbema was born in 1638, married in 1638, and died in poverty at Amsterdam in 1709. His works, which were neglected in his lifetime, now fetch much more than their weight in gold. Sums as large as four thousand pounds have been paid more than once for a Hobbema, yet his name was not found in any dictionary of art or artists for more than a century after his death. The English were the first to acknowledge Hobbema's merit, and nine-tenths of his works are in England, where he is the most popular Dutch landscape painter. But he is said by judges to have less invention and less poetic sensibility than his contemporary and friend Ruysdael. Hobbema's subjects are usually villages surrounded by trees like those in Guelderland, water-mills, a slightly broken country, with groups of trees, wheatfields, meadows, and small pools, more rarely portions of towns, and still more seldom old castles and stately mansions.[56] He has all the lifelike truthfulness of the Dutch artists. In tone he is as warm and golden as Ruysdael is cool in his greens. In the National Gallery there are excellent specimens of Hobbema, such as 'The Avenue Middelharnis' and 'A Landscape in Showery Weather.'
Nicolas Berchem, often spelt Berghem, was born at Haarlem in 1620, and died at Amsterdam in 1683. He was an excellent Dutch landscape painter. He had evidently visited Italy, and displayed great fondness for Italian subjects. His pictures show 'varied composition, good drawing, fine ærial effects, freedom, playfulness, and spirit.' As a colourist he was unequal, being often warm and harmonious, but at other times heavy and cold. It is clear that he was no student of life, from the monotony of his shepherds and shepherdesses and the sameness of his animals. He was naturally industrious, and was spurred on, as a still greater artist is said to have been, by the greed of his wife. He painted upwards of four hundred pictures, besides doing figures and animals for other painters. The great northern European galleries are rich in his works. One of his best pictures, 'A Shepherdess driving her cattle through a ford in a rocky landscape,' where the cool tone of the landscape is contrasted with the golden tone of the cattle, is in the Louvre. Another fine picture, 'Crossing the Ford,' is in the National Gallery.