Works of Art
- Filters:
- Sort by:
- Results layout:
Dutch, c. 1602 - 1670
Ruisdael, Salomon van
Copy-and-paste citation text:
Lara Yeager-Crasselt, Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., “Salomon van Ruysdael,” NGA Online Editions, https://purl.org/nga/collection/constituent/18427 (accessed December 02, 2024).
Export as PDF
Version | Link |
---|---|
Dec 09, 2019 Version | |
Apr 24, 2014 Version |
The Haarlem landscapist Salomon van Ruysdael, who was born in Naarden, was the youngest of four sons and one daughter born to Jacob Jansz de Gooyer, a Mennonite joiner from Blaricum. After his father’s death in 1616, Salomon and two of his brothers, Isaack and Jacob, changed the family name to Van Ruysdael after the country estate ‘Ruysdael’ (or Ruisschendaal) near Blaricum.[1] Salomon, along with his brother Isaack and his nephew
Although Salomon van Ruysdael’s training is unknown, his early paintings were influenced by
Aside from being a painter, Ruysdael was also involved with several other activities during his career. He dealt in blue dye for Haarlem’s bleacheries and was a member of the Guild of Cloth Merchants from 1658 to 1670. A document from 1657 also mentions him as being a participant in a tanning mill in Gorinchem. Furthermore, as Houbraken chronicles, Ruysdael even invented a process for creating imitation marble.[6] Such varied activities, in addition to his career as an artist, brought him considerable wealth; he owned several houses in Haarlem throughout his lifetime.
Like his father, Ruysdael was a Mennonite, and in 1669 he was listed among the members of the United Mennonite Church of Haarlem when he was living on the Kleine Houtrstraat.[7] His faith prohibited him from bearing arms, and as a result he had to pay an annual fee to be excused from his civic guard duty.
Although Ruysdael lived and worked in Haarlem throughout his life, his paintings, which depict views of various cities, including Alkmaar, Arnhem, Dordrecht, Leiden, Nijmegen, Rhenen, and Utrecht, suggest that he made several trips throughout the Netherlands. Along with
[1] The De Gooyer family may have been tenants of one of the houses on the Ruysdael estate. See Neeltje Köhler and Pieter Biesboer, Painting in Haarlem 1500–1850: The Collection of the Frans Hals Museum (Ghent, 2006), 291, note 4.
[2] Jacob was the only member of the family to spell his name differently.
[3] Hessel Miedema, De archiefbescheiden van het St. Lukasgilde te Haarlem 1497–1789, 2 vols. (Alphen aan den Rijn, 1980), 2:420. In that year, however, Salomon still registered as “Salomon de Gooyer” (see 2:1039).
[4] Samuel Ampzing, Beschryvinge ende lof der stad Haerlem in Holland (Haarlem, 1628), 372.
[5] Hessel Miedema, De archiefbescheiden van het St. Lukasgilde te Haarlem 1497–1789, 2 vols. (Alphen aan den Rijn, 1980), 2:455, 933, 1033, 1041.
[6] Arnold Houbraken, De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen. 3 vols. (The Hague, 1753; reprint: Amsterdam, 1976), 2:124, 3:66.
[7] Peter C. Sutton, Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Landscape Painting (Boston, 1987), 466–467.
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.,
Lara Yeager-Crasselt
April 24, 2014