Aert van der Neer (1603-1677) was a Dutch landscape painter, active in his native Amsterdam. He had two specialties: moonlit scenes, of which he is the acknowledged master among Dutch painters, and winter landscapes with skaters. In both types he displayed his mastery of light effects and subtle modulations of color. His work was often copied and imitated.

This piece was likely painted by a follower of Aert van der Neer (“follower of” or “manner of”).

We have no documents for this piece and know next to nothing about it or its acquisition (this is a family collection and the purchaser passed away several years ago).

The large label on the back of the frame reads “ATELIER DE RENTOILAGE ET DE RESTAURATION DE TABLEAUX / CAMATTE / 241, Boulevard St-Germain, 241 / PARIS / ENCADREMENTS ET DORURE / Achat, Echange de Tableaux.” Camatte was a known Parisian restoration and framing studio active roughly mid-to-late 19th century and this tells us the painting was in France by the 1800s and was relined/reframed there.  The presence of the label supports a 19th-century French history, not necessarily a 17th-century Dutch one.  

The heavy gilt Barbizon-style cartouche frame with the engraved nameplate “AART VAN DER NEER” is a 19th-century French frame. Apparently, nameplates of this kind were routinely added to optimistically attributed Dutch cabinet pictures during the 19th-century craze for them (they are not evidence of authorship).

The size (5½ × 6⅞ in.) is consistent with a Dutch 17th-century cabinet panel or a 19th-century pastiche on panel. Van der Neer did paint small works, but so did dozens of his 19th-century followers.

The painting is on panel (you can see the wood construction on the back), which is correct for Van der Neer, he worked almost exclusively on panel. The subject – a moonlit river landscape with a town silhouette, church spire, and boats, with the moon breaking through clouds and reflecting on the water – is his signature subject matter. The warm brown and steel grey palette is characteristic of his moonlit scenes.