Landscape with Rider

The painting in landscape format shows the view from a hill covered with leafy trees into a green valley. As the title suggests, the depiction of nature clearly dominates the picture. Only at second glance do we recognise two small figures in the valley, a seated person in the middle and a rider on a white horse in the right-hand corner of the painting. The horse begins to jump; the rider is followed by a man on foot with a walking stick and two dogs. The life-story of the painter Jan Wildens is closely linked to that of Peter Paul Rubens. Born in Antwerp, he was educated in the Peter Verhulst workshop from 1596 onwards. From 1604, Wildens was a member of Antwerp’s Guild of St. Luke, in which the artistic trades of the city were represented. Following a period of study in Italy, he entered the Rubens workshop around 1616 as a landscape specialist. Wildens had also personal connections to Rubens: he was one of the executors of Rubens’ will, among other things. In addition, Jan Wildens ran his own workshop and painted landscapes there, including this exhibit from the Siegerlandmuseum.