Two wall tiles in a wooden frame

Two wall tiles in a wooden frame of the famous paintings The mill at Wijk bij Duurstede by Jacob van Ruisdael and The Cornfield by John Constable

The frames are 19 cm x 19 cm
The tiles are 15 cm x 15 cm

The mill at Wijk bij Duurstede shows the rampart side of the Lek at Wijk bij Duurstede, with a flour mill demolished in 1817. On the horizon you can see the flattened tower of the local Grote or St. Janskerk, as well as Duurstede Castle, the summer residence of the bishops of Utrecht. The city wall and the city gate, which must have stood at the height of the three women, are not shown. The horizon appears low. More than three-quarters of the painting is therefore taken up by the menacing cloudy sky, through which nevertheless a few rays of sunlight penetrate, dramatically lighting up the mill. The three women and the small sailing boat are also accentuated by a beam of light. Light and shadow paths alternate across the water.

Depicting a Dutch landscape with a windmill was the most normal thing for Ruisdael. The Dutch landscape was full of thousands of windmills. However, it was only in the nineteenth century that it became clear that Ruisdael had painted a view of Wijk bij Duurstede.

Ruisdael painted other landscapes with mills, often in a compositionally similar design: a low horizon with a large cloudy sky, painted from a relatively low view, with the mill slightly to the side. These works would later have a great influence on Romantic painters such as John Constable.

The Cornfield is an oil painting by the English painter John Constable . It was completed in 1826 and first exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts that same year. It measures 143 by 122 cm. It belongs to the collection of the National Gallery in London . Constable referred to the painting as "The Drinking Boy" and it is believed to show a small road leading from East Bergholt to Dedham , Essex .