# The Watermill with the Great Red Roof

- By: Meindert Hobbema (Dutch, 1638–1709)
- Date: c. 1665
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 81.3 × 110 cm (32 × 43 1/4 in.); Framed: 101.3 × 130.5 × 8.3 cm (39 7/8 × 51 3/8 × 3 1/4 in.)
- Culture: Holland
- Credit line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Logan
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/869)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/237c25a2-6051-a8e7-1610-a01938d4deab/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

A pupil of Jacob van Ruisdael, Meindert Hobbema often borrowed motifs from his teacher, such as the watermill seen here. Watermills, which Hobbema employed more than 30 times in his paintings and which abounded along country waterways, would have been understood as symbols of human transience and Dutch industriousness. The well-dressed figures farther along the path at the left are intended to suggest the rewards of productivity and diligence.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0