Landscape with Soldiers

Lodewijk de Vadder was a Flemish Baroque landscape painter, draughtsman, engraver and tapestry designer. His landscapes represent a move away from the Mannerist tradition of landscapes painting in Flemish art towards a more naturalistic approach exemplified by looser brushwork and an emphasis on atmospheric effects. He was the first Flemish landscape painter who painted dune landscapes as the primary feature of his landscapes. While his loose brush handling shows the influence of Rubens and Adriaen Brouwer, his restrained palette shows his awareness of developments in the Dutch Republic.