River Landscape with Horsemen and Peasants

Cuyp's early style was transformed by an encounter with the Italianate landscapists of Utrecht and with the work of Jan Both in particular. He abandoned the monochrome tones and tight, descriptive detail of the Haarlem landscape painters in favour of a broader treatment of both actual and imaginary scenes. Much of the success of this painting lies in the consummate manner in which he renders the shimmering haze through which the town and the mountains beyond are seen, in the treatment of the details of trees and bushes on which the sunlight falls and in his remarkable ability to suggest subtle gradations of atmosphere.