Aert van der Neer, (artist), Dutch, 1603/1604 - 1677, Moonlit Landscape with Bridge, probably 1648/1650, oil on panel, overall: 78.4 x 110.2 cm (30 7/8 x 43 3/8 in.), framed: 101.6 ⊙ 132.7 ⊙ 6.4 cm (40 ⊙ 52 1/4 ⊙ 2 1/2 in.), Aert van der Neer initially painted realistic tonal landscapes and winter scenes, but by the late 1640s, he developed his own specialty of nocturnes, or night scenes. These mysteriously dark, moonlit pictures established him as an innovative and important landscape painter. Nevertheless, from about 1659 he took on a second, rather short-lived career as a tavern keeper in Amsterdam. He went bankrupt in 1662 and at the time of his death in 1677 was quite heavily in debt..