Salomon van Ruysdael (Naarden ?1600/3-1670 Haarlem)
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Salomon van Ruysdael (Naarden ?1600/3-1670 Haarlem)

A river landscape with the Pellecussenpoort near Utrecht, five cattle wading in the foreground and boats moored at the tower beyond

Details
Salomon van Ruysdael (Naarden ?1600/3-1670 Haarlem)
A river landscape with the Pellecussenpoort near Utrecht, five cattle wading in the foreground and boats moored at the tower beyond
signed and dated 'RuySdael 1663' (Ru and yS linked, lower left)
oil on panel
29 1/8 x 23¾ in. (74.2 x 60.4 cm.)
Provenance
with Eugene Slatter, London, circa 1945 (according to Stechow, loc. cit.).
Percy B. Meyer, London, by 1952; (+) Christie's, London, 16 March 1956, lot 58 (3,400 gns. to Agnew).
with Agnew's, London, 1956 (advertised, Connoisseur, 1956, p. 274), from whom acquired by the father of the present owners.
Literature
W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, Berlin, 1975, p. 74, no. 36A.
Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition. Dutch Pictures 1450-1750, 1952-3, no. 254.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis
Sale room notice
Please note that the panel has been examined by Simon Bobak; in his report dated 15 November 2002, Mr. Bobak describes the panel as being in 'excellent condition' and concludes that 'from examination under a microscope it is clear that the panel is the original size and has not been reduced in any way.' A copy of the report is available on request.

Lot Essay

A fortified gatehouse situated on the road leading to the Weerd gate of Utrecht, the Pellecussenpoort (the name was variously spelled, the most common alternative being Pelkuspoort) was designed with a primary function as a toll-house rather than for any defensive purpose. It was named after the medieval Pellecussen family, who owned the estate and manor of Lauwerecht, to which district the gatehouse gave entry; Lauwerecht itself was located to the north of the Bemuurde Weerd, the fortified northern suburb of Utrech.

As is visible in the present picture, the structure itself consisted of a high central tower housing the gateway, flanked by two extended wings that covered the width of the road. The structure vaulted a small stream that came out in the Vecht, the west façade rising sheer from the river. With its dramatic tower, ornate step-gables, large windows and proximity to the river, it had a highly picturesque appearance that afforded a much-appreciated subject for artists including both Ruysdael and Van Goyen. In 1672, when the French occupied Utrecht, they broke down most of the gate; what remained was finally demolished in 1715.

Beautifully preserved, the present panel is a fine example of the later style of Salomon van Ruysdael's oeuvre. River landscapes appear much less frequently in that period, when Ruysdael increasingly experimented with different themes, including seascapes, halts before an inn, winter scenes and even still lifes. All his later works, however, are linked by the fluent and assured style of the artist's maturity, visible here in the handling of the foreground cattle, the slight animation of the water's surface or the bold sweep of the trees.

From the later 1640s, Ruysdael had moved away from the monochromatic, tonal style towards a more natural approach that concentrated to a greater degree on a strength of composition that has been described as imbuing the landscape with a new sense of grandeur that had previously been eschewed by Dutch landscapists. Such an approach can certainly be understood in the present picture, dominated by the imposing group of trees rising over cattle and buildings, a motif found only from the late 1640s and employed with increasingly effectiveness. One might consider, for example, its development in such pictures as the River landscape with anglers of 1645 in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg, the Travellers by a castle of 1649 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the River landscape with a ferry of 1656 in the Institute of Arts, Minneapolis.

This new approach to landscape, bolder and statelier in character, has been seen as a reaction to the influence of the Dutch italianates. More evident, however, may be that of Ruysdael's nephew, Jacob (and even, from the 1660s, of the latter's pupil, Meindert Hobbema), on Dutch landscape at this time. For this, one might consider also Salomon's Landscape with the Journey to Emmaus of 1668 (Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans-Van Beuningen), with a gnarled leafless tree and rocky area in the foreground, divided by a running brook from a lush green panorama with a castle beyond. This change in taste and style is here seamlessly introduced into Salomon's work, suggesting, perhaps, the degree to which he himself had laid the groundwork for, rather than merely reacted to, the great classical period of Dutch landscape painting.

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