Barend Cornelis Koekkoek: Barend Cornelis Koekkoek was one of the most important figures of the Dutch Romantic School. He became famous for his wooded and forest landscapes and his snow scenes, filled with large trees, winding paths, hilltops, ruins and of Meindert Hobbema and Jan Wijnants. Although Koekkoek wrote in his memoirs that he was interested in the simplicity of nature, the idyllic atmosphere of many of his landscapes was conceived in the spirit of Romanticism. 

    Koekkoek was born in Middelburg and received his earliest tuition from his father Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek (1778 - 1851) who specialised in marine subjects and river scenes. He then studied under Abraham Krayestein at the Middelburg Drawing Academy and at the Amsterdam Academy between (1825 - 1826). He first lived in Hilversum and later in Amsterdam, spending the summers in the wooded Beek and Ubbergen. In 1833, Koekkoek married Elize Therese Daiwaille who was also a painter and in 1834 they settled at Kleve. He published his Memoirs and Reports of a Landscape Painter in 1841 and in 1845, Koekkoek was commissioned by the King of Holland to paint a series of landscapes.

    Koekkoek regularly exhibited in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam between 1826 - 1862; he also showed work at the Paris Salon where he won medals in 1840 and 1845. He also was a member of the Amsterdam and St Petersburg Academies and was awarded the Netherlands Order of the Lion and the Belgian Order of Leopold. 

    The work of Barend Cornelis Koekkoek is represented in many museums including the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam and the Stadtishches Museum Haus Koekkoek, Kleve.