The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 12, 2026

A horizontally oriented oil painting depicts a pastoral landscape with figures and livestock crossing a stream. In the foreground, a woman in a white blouse and a man in a red coat lead cows and sheep through dark water. Tall, leafy green trees frame the left, while a gnarled, weathered trunk rises on the right. Beyond the water, a hazy forest sits beneath a muted gray sky, rendered with soft brushstrokes.

Peasants Crossing a Stream

c. 1670

Jan Siberechts

(Flemish, 1627-c. 1703)
Flanders
oil on canvas
Framed: 119 x 143 x 9 cm (46 7/8 x 56 5/16 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 99.7 x 122.5 cm (39 1/4 x 48 1/4 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1969.18
Location: Not on view

Description

The painting is characteristic of Jan Siberechts's Antwerp style, characterized by scenes with fords through which peasants wade with their cattle. The peasants wear simple but brightly colored attire and stand out against the cool green landscape. Flanked by overgrown foliage, the silver hues of the still stream shimmer with reflections. Over the course of his career, which included moving to London in 1672, Siberechts continued to use many of the same figures in his paintings, including Flemish peasant women carrying jugs, like the one seen in this painting. Likewise, his approaches to depicting animals, such as the cows seen here, changed very little over time and are ubiquitous throughout his oeuvre.
  • - Private collection
    Frederick Mont (New York, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969
  • Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1969." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 1 (1970): 2-50. Referenced: cat. no. 151, p. 48, Reproduced: p.17 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 155 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Mentioned: p. 35; Reproduced: p. 36
    Sphinx Fine Art Gallery. One Hundred Old Master Paintings. London: Sphinx Fine Art, 2009. Reproduced: p. 188, fig. 1, no. 64
  • Re-presenting the Baroque. Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art (organizer) (October 1, 1997-April 1, 1998).
    Real Prints: Reproduction or Invention. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 7-May 17, 1987).
    Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10-September 2, 1973).
    Year in Review: 1969. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-February 22, 1970).
  • {{cite web|title=Peasants Crossing a Stream|url=false|author=Jan Siberechts|year=c. 1670|access-date=12 April 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1969.18