Windmill

Painted in 1835, Windmill reflects Decamps's interest in northern European landscape subjects alongside his better-known Mediterranean and Orientalist themes. In the early 1830s, Dutch and Flemish Old Masters were being reassessed by French critics and collectors, with Rembrandt, Ruisdael, and Hobbema attracting fresh admiration. Decamps absorbed this influence readily — his tonal painting, his interest in light across flat terrain, and his feel for the ordinary textures of rural life all align with the Dutch tradition he admired. A windmill in flat landscape is an archetypally Dutch subject, and Decamps's treatment suggests deliberate homage to that tradition while remaining distinctly Romantic in its atmospheric intensity. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston preserves this early work, which shows his range before Orientalism came to define his reputation entirely.

The composition relies on a low horizon to maximize sky, giving atmospheric phenomena dominant importance. Decamps's brushwork in the cloud masses is confident and varied — thick impasto in lighter areas, thin washes in shadow — creating a sky that functions as the painting's primary subject.