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Lot Essay
The greatest and most versatile of all Dutch landscapists, Jacob van Ruisdael, came from a family of painters that included his father, Isaak, and his uncle, Salomon van Ruysdael, both of whom were also specialists in landscape painting. Although his teacher was unknown, Jacob must have been something of a prodigy, bursting on the artistic scene in Haarlem when he was just seventeen or eighteen years old, and producing some highly accomplished works.
Indeed, 1646 must have been something of an annus mirabilis for the artist, as from that year we know of a large number of dated works (thirteen in all have been identified) that are quite markedly distinct from the landscapes being produced by older artists or his contemporaries. By 1648 he had become a member of the Saint Luke's Guild in Haarlem. Ruisdael's early artistic development must have been influenced by the tender mood and refined detail of Cornelis Vroom's landscapes, and this is especially evident in Ruisdael's paintings from 1648 and 1649, lasting a few years beyond the latter date. Vroom's importance as a landscapist was noted as early as 1647 by the poet and historian, Theodorus Schrevelius, who wrote of him that among the Haarlem artists 'who paint our fields, woods and forests the first place and palm of honor goes to Cornelis Vroom'.
The present painting bears a date that appears to read '165(3?)', but stylistically the painting fits much more closely into the period of Ruisdael's oeuvre discussed above - namely circa 1647-50. It can be compared most closely with his painting of Dunes by the Sea, which is also on panel, of similar size, and signed and dated 1647, in a private collection (see the catalogue of the exhibition, Jacob van Ruisdael, The Hague, the Mauritshuis, and Cambridge, MA, the Fogg Art Museum, 1981-82, pp. 42-3, no.8, illustrated). In both paintings one can see what Professor Seymour Slive describes as 'the elegant fashioning of forms that Cornelis Vroom (1591/2-1661) had introduced into Dutch landscape painting more than a decade earlier. Vroom's impact is seen in the more transparent and fine filigree treatment of the foliage and in the lighter, more tender palette.' The treatment of the clouds and soft evening light in both paintings is also remarkably similar. A comparison can also be made with Ruisdael's Dune Landscape of 1646 in the Hermitage, St. Petersberg, and a variant at the Gouverneur's Huis, Paramaribo, Surinam (Slive, op. cit., pp. 32-3, no. 3 and fig. 9) both of which also have a solitary traveler seated at the side of a path and a large dominating tree group silhouetted against the sky.
Professor Seymour Slive has seen the present painting and confirmed a dating in the 1640s.
Indeed, 1646 must have been something of an annus mirabilis for the artist, as from that year we know of a large number of dated works (thirteen in all have been identified) that are quite markedly distinct from the landscapes being produced by older artists or his contemporaries. By 1648 he had become a member of the Saint Luke's Guild in Haarlem. Ruisdael's early artistic development must have been influenced by the tender mood and refined detail of Cornelis Vroom's landscapes, and this is especially evident in Ruisdael's paintings from 1648 and 1649, lasting a few years beyond the latter date. Vroom's importance as a landscapist was noted as early as 1647 by the poet and historian, Theodorus Schrevelius, who wrote of him that among the Haarlem artists 'who paint our fields, woods and forests the first place and palm of honor goes to Cornelis Vroom'.
The present painting bears a date that appears to read '165(3?)', but stylistically the painting fits much more closely into the period of Ruisdael's oeuvre discussed above - namely circa 1647-50. It can be compared most closely with his painting of Dunes by the Sea, which is also on panel, of similar size, and signed and dated 1647, in a private collection (see the catalogue of the exhibition, Jacob van Ruisdael, The Hague, the Mauritshuis, and Cambridge, MA, the Fogg Art Museum, 1981-82, pp. 42-3, no.8, illustrated). In both paintings one can see what Professor Seymour Slive describes as 'the elegant fashioning of forms that Cornelis Vroom (1591/2-1661) had introduced into Dutch landscape painting more than a decade earlier. Vroom's impact is seen in the more transparent and fine filigree treatment of the foliage and in the lighter, more tender palette.' The treatment of the clouds and soft evening light in both paintings is also remarkably similar. A comparison can also be made with Ruisdael's Dune Landscape of 1646 in the Hermitage, St. Petersberg, and a variant at the Gouverneur's Huis, Paramaribo, Surinam (Slive, op. cit., pp. 32-3, no. 3 and fig. 9) both of which also have a solitary traveler seated at the side of a path and a large dominating tree group silhouetted against the sky.
Professor Seymour Slive has seen the present painting and confirmed a dating in the 1640s.