An estuary scene with a distant view of Haarlem; and An estuary scene with light shipping

This atmospheric pair of estuary scenes by Salomon van Ruysdael belongs to a group of works from the mid- to late-1650s and early 1660s, executed on small panels of similar size. Pairs are relatively unusual in the artist’s oeuvre, and most are upright like the present lot.

Ruysdael developed an interest in working on an upright format presumably to explore new compositional possibilities, giving greater emphasis to verticality and soaring skies. Typically, around three quarters of the paint surfaces are devoted to the sky, with billowing clouds, shown receding into the far distance, with only the narrowest strips of land serving to divide sky and water. Some feature recognizable towns such as Haarlem, as in the first of this pair, but more frequently the artist eschews topographical detail for a purer focus on the day-to-day activities taking place on a river estuary. The masts of the various vessels provide vertical accents that further strengthen the spatial harmony of the compositions. Here, Ruysdael renders the thick clouds and choppy waters with a characteristic fluidity, with rapid brushwork applied wet-in-wet over a pink and buff ground.