The Horse Fair at Valkenburg

The present picture is the earliest known work by the artist, in which the influence of Esaias van den Velde, who was active in Haarlem between 1609 and 1618, is evident. In fact, Van Ruysdael was probably inspired by Van den Velde's picture of the Horse Fair at Rijswijk of 1625, in the collection of the Six Foundation, Amsterdam (G. Keyes, Esaias van den Velde - 1597-1630, 1984, p.123, no.16, plate 129). As pointed out by W. Stechow in Kunsthistorische Mededelingen van het Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, II, 1947, 3-4, p.38, the lower horizon depicted by Van Ruysdael is characteristic of the generation that succeeded Van den Velde. Ruysdael treated the subject at least three times: in the painting of 1633 in the Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, Leyden (Stechow, op. cit., p.88/9, no.137, fig.13), in the painting of 1643 in the Nrodni Gallery, Prague (Stechow, op. cit, p.89, no.138A) and in the painting of 1644, with Agnew's, London in 1947.
The scene was earlier described as the Horse Fair at Rijswijk; A. Hoogendoorn, op, cit., pp.39/40, established its identity by comparison with a drawing of 1654 by J. de Bisschop in the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam (A. Hoogendoorn, op. cit., p.39, fig.5).