Lot Essay
Salomon van Ruysdael spent his entire life in the city of Haarlem and first explored the theme of river landscapes as early as 1631, the year prior to his entry into the painters' guild. By the 1650s the subject had become central to his art and allowed him to explore new expressive possibilities, while using a limited group of motifs and compositional elements.
The present lot typifies Ruysdael's mature works of the 1660s in which he depicted the waterways of Holland as peaceful, idyllic bodies punctuated by receding shorelines. His paintings of the 1650s and 1660s are characterized by stronger color contrasts and by the animated, assured brushstrokes so evident in the present lot. The emphatic diagonal favored in his compositions of the late forties have softened to a more rhythmic whole (see, for example, the River Landscape with Ferryboats of 1666 sold at Christie's, London, April 10, 1987, lot 28 (220,000=$371,000); and the River Landscape of 1665 offered at Christie's, New York, Jan. 16, 1992, lot 110).
The present lot typifies Ruysdael's mature works of the 1660s in which he depicted the waterways of Holland as peaceful, idyllic bodies punctuated by receding shorelines. His paintings of the 1650s and 1660s are characterized by stronger color contrasts and by the animated, assured brushstrokes so evident in the present lot. The emphatic diagonal favored in his compositions of the late forties have softened to a more rhythmic whole (see, for example, the River Landscape with Ferryboats of 1666 sold at Christie's, London, April 10, 1987, lot 28 (220,000=$371,000); and the River Landscape of 1665 offered at Christie's, New York, Jan. 16, 1992, lot 110).
