Painter J. H. Wijsmuller along Vecht and Angstel

Jan Hillebrand Wijsmuller (1855 - 1925) was an impressionist painter, watercolorist, and etcher.
He lived and worked in Amsterdam, but he also ventured into the wider surroundings of the city to capture landscapes and villages. The peat rivers Vecht and Angstel exerted a strong attraction on painters. Moreover, they were easily accessible thanks to the railway to Utrecht with stops in, among others, Loenen - Vreeland. The rivers have largely retained their own character. The Angstel still lies in a relatively open agricultural polder landscape. The Vecht, in this part of the route, is primarily a landscape with stately villas of wealthy Amsterdammers with beautiful parks around them, bordering the peat area of Loosdrechtse Plassen. Some of the scenes that Jan Wijsmuller painted have – after more than a hundred years! – largely remained intact. He had a preference for the many bridges and, at the time, numerous windmills. The bridges are mostly still there, and the villages along these peat rivers are still clearly recognizable. Unfortunately, many windmills have disappeared, but fortunately, the remaining mills stand proudly and well-maintained.
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