Jacob van Ruisdael

Ruysdael, Jacob van

Dutch, c. 1628/1629 - 1682

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A garden with two fountains stretches back to a manor house in the distance in this horizontal landscape painting. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition, and gray clouds tower in the vivid blue sky above. A pine tree closer to us to the left of center rises high against the sky. There are a few more evergreens to the right among dark-green canopied trees. A yellowed pine tree has fallen on the grassy lawn in the lower left quadrant of the composition. Just beyond this, the fountain to the left has a tall, columnar base under a dish-like basin. Water fountains sprays up and out from the center of the dish and trickles down the sides. The fountain is topped with a statue, perhaps of a child. Three people stand at the base of this fountain, which is three times their height. The fountain to the right has a blocky base about the height of a person. Water streams out from the front and two sides in this view. On the base is an urn-like form that shoots water high into the air. Five more people stand, run, or walk across the garden between the fountains. The women’s long dresses have red, white, or black skirts and pale pink or black bodices. Two wear black head coverings, and the third wears a white head covering. One man wears brown and the other black, and both have wide-brimmed hats. Near the right edge of the painting, three more people wearing black stand around an arched opening that appears to be covered in moss and/or other plants. The people all appear to have light skin but not all faces or hands are visible. A broken column lies in the bushes in the lower right corner of the composition. The final person stands entirely in shadow in the distance between two rows of trees that flank an opening to the house. The structure appears to have two tall stories with four chimneys on the dark green-gray roof and light brown walls. Angular bays of windows are outlined with white trim on the symmetrical façade.
Jacob van Ruisdael, Country House in a Park, c. 1675, oil on canvas, Gift of Rupert L. Joseph, 1960.2.1

Country House in a Park

Jacob van Ruisdael · c. 1675 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1960.2.1

We look across a river and slightly up at a pair of tall, leafy trees framed by steely-gray clouds against a a vivid blue sky in this nearly square landscape painting. A spindly trunk with only a few leafy branches grows near the towering trees, which are at the center of the picture, and a band of dark green trees grows along the river beyond them. The river runs toward us from the distance to our right into the lower left corner of the canvas, tumbling down a low waterfall near the bottom center of the painting. The river is lined with caramel-brown boulders. A woman and small child walk away from us on a footbridge spanning the river, to our left. The woman wears a white cap and apron, a dark bodice over a white shirt, and a red skirt. She carries the handle of a large basket hooked over her right forearm and the child, wearing a tan hat and jacket and brown pants, walks on her opposite side. A white dog near the woman seems to have paused to look into the forest. The horizon of the river comes about a quarter of the way up the composition so the trees, sky, and clouds fill most of the painting. The artist signed the painting as if he had written his name on a rock to the left of center: “J v Ruisdael.”
Jacob van Ruisdael, Landscape, c. 1670, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.85

Landscape

Jacob van Ruisdael · c. 1670 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1961.9.85

A broken white and gray birch tree trunk has fallen across a rocky, shallow waterfall at the edge of a dense, deeply shadowed forest in this horizontal landscape painting. The narrow stream winds toward us from the forest to splash into a rocky pool that nearly spans the width of the painting along the bottom edge. The tree trunk angles from our right down into the pool, having lost most of its branches. Broken off near the base, the gnarled roots of the tree dig into a rocky outcropping along the right edge of the composition. Farther back and tiny in scale, two people walk along the stream. One person wears a black dress and white cap, and carries a basket, and the other person wears a light, brimmed hat, a ruby-red shirt, and dark pants. Under the trees beyond, four sheep graze in a meadow. The bushes, vegetation, and trees of the forest spring up beyond the sheep, painted with tones of sage, moss, olive, and dark pine green. A grove of trees to our right in the middle distance, including one white birch trunk, nearly reaches the top edge of the canvas. Steel-gray bottomed clouds with white, fluffy tops create a diagonal line across the tree tops. A wedge of pale blue sky is exposed in the upper left corner. A few dark birds fly high in the sky. The artist signed the painting in the lower right, “J v Ruisdael.”
Jacob van Ruisdael, Forest Scene, c. 1655, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.80

Forest Scene

Jacob van Ruisdael · c. 1655 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.80

Jacob van Ruisdael, Frans van den Wyngaerde, The Three Oaks, 1649, etching, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7601

The Three Oaks

Jacob van Ruisdael, Frans van den Wyngaerde · 1649 · etching ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7601

Water laps at a curving shoreline in front of a steep sandy dune carpeted in grass, shrubs, and trees in this horizontal landscape painting. The dune takes up the lower right quadrant of the composition. A few broken tree trunks are overgrown with vines and plants across the top and down the sloping side of the dune facing us. A red brick wall cuts through the vegetation up the side of the dune and disappears into the shrubbery at the top. The twisting branches and canopies of three large trees reach into the upper right quadrant of the composition. The vegetation stops abruptly along the sheer edge of the dune where it faces the water. The land curves like a backward capital letter C so it almost reaches the left edge of the painting along the horizon, which comes a quarter of the way up the composition. A cow and three more animals, perhaps sheep or more cows, graze or lie on a grassy mound in the distance, and sailboats line the horizon in the deep distance. White ripples swirl in the steel-blue water. The artist signed and dated the lower center, “J Ruisdael . 1648.”
Jacob van Ruisdael, Dunes by the Sea, 1648, oil on panel, The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund, 2017.55.1

Dunes by the Sea

Jacob van Ruisdael · 1648 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2017.55.1

Jacob van Ruisdael, Old Trees along a Bank, late 1640s, black chalk, Gift of the Ruth and Vernon Taylor Foundation, 1980.59.1

Old Trees along a Bank

Jacob van Ruisdael · late 1640s · black chalk ·  Accession ID  1980.59.1

Jacob van Ruisdael, Cottage on a Hill, etching and drypoint, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7605

Cottage on a Hill

Jacob van Ruisdael · · etching and drypoint ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7605

Jacob van Ruisdael, Frans van den Wyngaerde, Grain Field at the Edge of a Wood (Corn Field), etching and drypoint, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7603

Grain Field at the Edge of a Wood (Corn Field)

Jacob van Ruisdael, Frans van den Wyngaerde · · etching and drypoint ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7603

Jacob van Ruisdael, A Forest Marsh with Travelers on a Bank (The Travelers), etching and drypoint, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7604

A Forest Marsh with Travelers on a Bank (The Travelers)

Jacob van Ruisdael · · etching and drypoint ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7604

Jacob van Ruisdael, The Little Bridge, c. 1652, etching on laid paper, Gift of Jacob Kainen, 2002.98.56

The Little Bridge

Jacob van Ruisdael · c. 1652 · etching on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2002.98.56

Bibliography

1753

  • Houbraken, Arnold. De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen. 3 vols. in 1. The Hague, 1753 (Reprint: Amsterdam, 1976): 3:65-66.

1829

  • Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters. 9 vols. London, 1829-1842: 6(1835):1-107; 9(1842):680-718.

1890

  • Michel, Émile. Jacob van Ruisdael et les paysagistes de l'école de Haarlem. Les Artistes Célèbres. Paris, 1890.

1907

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 8 vols. Translated by Edward G. Hawke. London, 1907-1927: 4(1912):1-349.

1928

  • Rosenberg, Jakob. Jacob van Ruisdael. Berlin, 1928.

1930

  • Simon, Kurt Erich. Jacob van Ruisdael: Eine Darstellung seiner Entwicklung. Berlin, 1930.

1932

  • Wijnman, Hendrik Frederik. "Het leven der Ruysdaels." Oud Holland 49 (1932): 46–60; 173–81; 258–75.

1971

  • Wiegand, Wilfred. "Ruisdael-Studien: Ein Versuch zur Ikonologie der Landschaftsmalerei." Ph.D. dissertation, Hamburg, 1971.

1980

  • Giltay, Jeroen. "De tekeningen van Jacob van Ruisdael." Oud Holland 94 (1980): 141-186.

1981

  • Schmidt, Winfried. Studien zur Landschaftskunst Jacob van Ruisdaels: Frühwerke und Wanderjahre. Hildesheim and New York, 1981.

  • Slive, Seymour. Jacob van Ruisdael. Exh. cat. Mauritshuis, The Hague; Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts. New York, 1981.

1987

  • Sutton, Peter C., et al. Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Landscape Painting. Exh. cat. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Philadelphia Museum of Art. Boston, 1987: 437-465.

1991

  • MacLaren, Neil. The Dutch School, 1600-1900. Revised and expanded by Christopher Brown. 2 vols. National Gallery Catalogues. London, 1991: 1:379.

  • Walford, E. John. Jacob van Ruisdael and the Perception of Landscape. New Haven, 1991.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 338-339.

2001

  • Slive, Seymour. Jacob van Ruisdael: A complete catalogue of his paintings, drawings, and etchings. New Haven and London, 2001.