The Mill

Rembrandt painted The Mill around 1648, at the height of his career. He was in his early forties, living in Amsterdam, and producing the dark, atmospheric paintings that distinguish his middle period. The Mill is one of the few landscapes he painted, and it is his most famous. A windmill stands on a bluff above a river, its sails turning against a twilight sky. The mill is silhouetted against the light, its dark form dominating the composition. Below the bluff, a river flows past, with a small boat visible at the left. Figures are scattered through the foreground: a woman with a child, a man fishing from the bank, a couple walking along a path. The sky fills most of the canvas, a vast dome of clouds lit from behind by the setting sun. The painting has been attributed to Rembrandt since the eighteenth century, though some scholars have questioned the attribution. The National Gallery of Art, which acquired the painting in 1942, considers it autograph. The dark palette, the dramatic use of light, and the loose brushwork are all characteristic of Rembrandt's middle period. The mill in the painting may be the one that stood on the ramparts of Amsterdam, near the city gate. Rembrandt lived near this mill in the 1640s, and it appears in several of his drawings. But the landscape is not topographically accurate. Rembrandt was not painting a specific place. He was painting the idea of a mill at twilight, the feeling of a day ending. Oil on canvas, 88 by 105 centimeters, roughly 35 by 41 inches. Rembrandt used a dark ground, building the forms in layers of warm brown and black. The mill is painted in broad strokes, its silhouette sharp against the sky. The sky is built in thin glazes of yellow, orange, and grey, with the clouds rendered in thick impasto. The figures in the foreground are barely indicated, a few strokes of paint each. This print works in a study or living room, where the dark palette and the atmospheric subject can be appreciated in low light. The warm browns and golds suit wood paneling, leather furniture, and brass fixtures. The 16x20 framed version gives the mill and the sky enough detail to read. The painting is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., part of the Andrew W. Mellon Collection.