Jan Asselijn was one of the first Dutch painters to introduce a fresh and transparent manner of painting landscapes in the style of Claude Lorraine, and other artists speedily followed his example. Asselijn's pictures were in high estimation in Amsterdam, and several of them are in the museums of that city. Twenty-four, painted in Italy, were engraved. One of his paintings, The Threatened Swan, portrays a swan aggressively defending its nest, symbolising Dutch national resistance. However, it is unknown if Asselijn intended it to be so.
The Threatened Swan
The Threatened Swan (Dutch: De bedreigde zwaan) is an oil painting of a mute swan made around 1650 by Dutch Golden Age painter Jan Asselijn. The work is in the Rijksmuseum collection in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
It is 144 centimeters (57 in) high and 171 centimeters (67 in) wide. The painting's subject is a life-size swan (Cygnus color) defending its nest against a dog. At the bottom right, the painting is signed with the monogram "A".
1650. A swan fiercely defends its nest against a dog. In later centuries, this scuffle was interpreted as a political allegory: the white swan was thought to symbolise the Dutch statesman Johan de Witt (assassinated in 1672), who was protecting the country from its enemies.
The Collection
