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Lot Essay
Jacob van Ruisdael’s reputation as the most talented and versatile of the Dutch landscape painters of the Golden Age has remained undiminished since his lifetime. Dating to his early maturity, c. 1660, this picture shows the key influence of his compatriot Allart van Everdingen, from Alkmaar, who had travelled to Scandinavia around 1644 and returned to Haarlem the following year. Everdingen continued to paint landscapes inspired by his visit to the Nordic countries, far from the flat surroundings of the Netherlands. Shortly after, Ruisdael too began to experiment with rugged, even mountainous landscapes, introducing rocky waterfalls and running streams, perhaps also inspired by his own trips to the Dutch-German border.
Ruisdael would become so renowned for his waterfall pictures that Arnold Houbraken reports seeing a play in 1721 on the subject of the artist’s name ‘Ruis-dael’ (‘noisy valley’). Ruisdael, he went on, ‘painted both local and foreign landscapes, but especially those in which one sees water crashing down from one rock to another, finally to spread out with a roar into dales and through valleys: and he could depict spray, or water foamy from dashing on the rocks, so naturally clear and translucent, that it appeared to be real’ (quoted in The Golden Age of Dutch Landscape Painting, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, 1994, p. 199).
This compositional type would become Ruisdael’s trademark: his oeuvre contains more landscapes with cascades and waterfalls than any other vista. Given the lack of dated pictures, establishing a chronology for this group has proved challenging. It is likely, though, that pictures of a vertical format, such as the present lot, generally date to the first years of this new, popular type, in the late 1650s and early 1660s. Indeed, Seymour Slive suggest a dating in the 1660s for the present canvas.
Ruisdael would become so renowned for his waterfall pictures that Arnold Houbraken reports seeing a play in 1721 on the subject of the artist’s name ‘Ruis-dael’ (‘noisy valley’). Ruisdael, he went on, ‘painted both local and foreign landscapes, but especially those in which one sees water crashing down from one rock to another, finally to spread out with a roar into dales and through valleys: and he could depict spray, or water foamy from dashing on the rocks, so naturally clear and translucent, that it appeared to be real’ (quoted in The Golden Age of Dutch Landscape Painting, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, 1994, p. 199).
This compositional type would become Ruisdael’s trademark: his oeuvre contains more landscapes with cascades and waterfalls than any other vista. Given the lack of dated pictures, establishing a chronology for this group has proved challenging. It is likely, though, that pictures of a vertical format, such as the present lot, generally date to the first years of this new, popular type, in the late 1650s and early 1660s. Indeed, Seymour Slive suggest a dating in the 1660s for the present canvas.