Théophile de Bock, a Dutch painter of the Hague School, specialized in painting landscapes featuring low horizons and dynamic cloudy skies as we see here in Landscape. De Bock was influenced by the Barbizon School painters, especially Corot and Millet, whom he encountered during a visit to Paris and Barbizon in 1880. Like the Barbizon School, De Bock adopted the practice of painting outdoors, a technique Corot helped popularize. We can assume this painting is somewhere near the Hague as De Bock was keen on portraying the distinctive, local Dutch environment.
To capture the poetry of the landscape, De Bock balanced a realistic depiction with a more emotive, expressive style as we see here in the rendering of the “woolliness” of the trees – reflecting the Hague School’s preference for capturing the essence of the scene rather than its minutiae. Also, there are small human figures along with animals, to emphasize the proportions within the scene and to create a sense of scale, another technique employed by other Hague School artists.
De Bock’s muted color palette also aligned with the Hague School’s reputation as the “Gray School.” Here in Landscape, he features dusty greens, yellows, and grays which contribute to the overall somber and muted palette characteristic of the movement.