Cattle Near A River (from Wikipedia Commons).
Aelbert Cuyp's paintings are said to be "enveloped in the atmosphere as if imprisoned in pale amber." After his father's death in 1651 and his mother's three years later, Cuyp inherited considerable property and became a leading citizen in town affairs.
The amount of biographical information regarding Aelbert Cuyp is tremendously limited. Even Arnold Houbraken, a noted historian of Dutch Golden Age paintings and the sole authority on Cuyp for the hundred years following his death, paints a very thin biographical picture. His period of activity as a painter is traditionally limited to the two decades between 1639 and 1660, fitting directly within the generally accepted limits of the Dutch Golden Age’s most significant period, 1640-1665.
The Negro Page
Herdsman with cows
Cuyp painted landscapes and animals, but he also created seascapes, still lifes, and portraits. He often traveled the Dutch rivers, sketching from nature. His preferred scenes were idyllically peaceful river views with sun-drenched skies and landscapes with cows silhouetted against the sky, animals he endowed with as much grandeur as human heroes.
Back in 2011, I wrote a four part series on the Von Otterloo collection in which Cuyp, along with other painters of the era were well represented:
In Aelbert Cuyp’s monumental canvas "Orpheus Charming the Animals," one of the glories of the Van Otterloo collection, a very blond Dutch Orpheus plays the violin for an enchanted menagerie of animals. Enticed by his music, an assembly of animals and surrounding trees listen entranced to the Greek god Orpheus, whose mother, Calliope, was the muse of epic poetry.