Jacob van Ruisdael Painting Reproductions 2 of 6

c.1628-1682

Dutch Baroque Painter

Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael (or Ruysdael) (c. 1628 - 14 March 1682) was a Dutch landscape painter.

A native of Haarlem, he appears to have studied under his father Isaak van Ruysdael, a landscape painter, though other authorities place him as the pupil of Berghem and of Allart van Everdingen. He was the nephew of Salomon van Ruysdael, a landscape artist of some note, and studied under him as well. The earliest date that appears on his paintings and etchings is 1645. Three years later he was admitted as a member of the guild of St Luke in Haarlem; in 1659 he obtained the freedom of the city of Amsterdam, and in 1668 his name appears there as a witness to the marriage of Meindert Hobbema. During his lifetime, his works were little appreciated, and he seems to have suffered from poverty. In 1681 the sect of the Mennonites, with whom he was connected, petitioned the council of Haarlem for his admission into the almshouse of the town, and there the artist died on the 14th of March 1682.

Ruisdael's favorite subjects are simple woodland scenes, similar to those of Everdingen and Hobbema. He is especially noted as a painter of trees, and his rendering of foliage, particularly of oak leaf age, is characterized by the greatest spirit and precision. His views of distant cities, such as that of Haarlem in the possession of the marquess of Bute, and that of Katwijk in the Glasgow Corporation Galleries, clearly indicate the influence of Rembrandt.

He frequently painted coast-scenes and sea-pieces, but it is in his rendering of lonely forest glades that we find him at his best. The subjects of certain of his mountain scenes seem to be taken from Norway, and have led to the supposition that he had traveled in that country. There is, however, no record of such a journey, and the works in question are probably merely adaptations from the landscapes of Van Everdingen, whose manner he copied at one period. Only a single architectural subject from his brush is known an admirable interior of the New Church, Amsterdam. The prevailing hue of his landscapes is a full rich green, which, however, has darkened with time, while a clear grey tone is characteristic of his seapieces. The art of Ruisdael, while it shows little of the scientific knowledge of later landscapists, is sensitive and poetic in sentiment, and direct and skillful in technique. Figures are sparingly introduced into his compositions, and such as occur are believed to be from the pencils of Adriaen van de Velde, Philip Wouwerman, and Jan Lingelbach.

Unlike the other great Dutch landscape painters, Ruisdael did not aim at a pictorial record of particular scenes, but he carefully thought out and arranged his compositions, introducing into them an infinite variety of subtle contrasts in the formation of the clouds, the plants and tree forms, and the play of light. He particularly excelled in the painting of cloudscapes which are spanned dome-like over the landscape, and determine the light and shade of the objects.

Goethe lauded him as a poet among painters, and his work shows some of the sensibilities the Romantics would later celebrate.

Characteristic of his early period, from about 1646 to 1655, is the choice of very simple motifs and the careful and laborious study of the details of nature. The time between his departure from Haarlem and his settling in Amsterdam may have been spent in travelling and helped him to gain a broader view of nature and to widen the horizon of his art.

A magnificent view of the Castle of Bentheim (which is located in Bad Bentheim in Lower-Saxony), dated 1654, suggests that his wanderings extended to Germany. In his last period, from about 1675 onwards, he shows a tendency towards overcrowded compositions, and affects a darker tonality, which may partly be due to the use of thin paint on a dark ground. Towards the end, in his leaning towards the romantic mood, he preferred to draw his inspiration from other masters, instead of going to nature direct, his favorite subjects being rushing torrents and waterfalls, and ruined castles on mountain crests, which are frequently borrowed from the Swiss views by Roghmau.

Ruisdael etched a few plates, thirteen according to the latest catalogue raisonne by Slive, which he evidently regarded as experimental and somewhat private, to judge by their extreme rarity - about half survive in only a single impression (copy). By far the best collection is at the Rijksmuseum print room in Amsterdam. Many have very crowded compositions of foliage. The Cornfield and the Travellers are characterized by Duplessis as prints of a high order which may be regarded as the most significant expressions of landscape art in the Low Countries.

129 Ruisdael Paintings

A Windmill near Fields, 1646 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

A Windmill near Fields 1646

Oil Painting
$1460
Canvas Print
$56.38
SKU: RJV-13446
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 49.5 x 68.5 cm
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA

Landscape with a Wheatfield, c.1655/65 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with a Wheatfield c.1655/65

Oil Painting
$1411
Canvas Print
$50.90
SKU: RJV-13447
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 40 x 45.7 cm
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA

Bridge with a Sluice, c.1648/49 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Bridge with a Sluice c.1648/49

Oil Painting
$1434
Canvas Print
$57.12
SKU: RJV-13448
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 39.4 x 56 cm
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA

Two Watermills and an Open Sluice, 1653 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Two Watermills and an Open Sluice 1653

Oil Painting
$1977
Canvas Print
$61.01
SKU: RJV-13449
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 66 x 84.5 cm
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA

Entrance Gate of the Castle of Brederode, c.1655 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Entrance Gate of the Castle of Brederode c.1655

Oil Painting
$1180
Canvas Print
$50.90
SKU: RJV-13450
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 30.2 x 37.8 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, USA

Landscape with a Waterfall, n.d. by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with a Waterfall n.d.

Oil Painting
$1763
Canvas Print
$55.26
SKU: RJV-13452
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 103.5 x 143.5 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, USA

Storm on the Dunes, n.d. by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Storm on the Dunes n.d.

Oil Painting
$1686
Canvas Print
$65.07
SKU: RJV-13453
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 69.5 x 81.9 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, USA

Dunes, c.1650/55 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Dunes c.1650/55

Oil Painting
$1405
Canvas Print
$50.90
SKU: RJV-13454
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 33.5 x 49.2 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, USA

Landscape with Waterfall, c.1665 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Waterfall c.1665

Oil Painting
$1405
Canvas Print
$61.15
SKU: RJV-13455
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 69.4 x 56 cm
Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri, USA

Landscape with Bridge, Cattle, and Figures, c.1660 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Bridge, Cattle, and Figures c.1660

Oil Painting
$1821
Canvas Print
$57.78
SKU: RJV-13456
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 95.6 x 129.7 cm
The Clark Art Institute, Massachusetts, USA

Landscape with Waterfall, c.1660/70 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Waterfall c.1660/70

Oil Painting
$1879
Canvas Print
$67.04
SKU: RJV-13457
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 109.3 x 91.5 cm
Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland, USA

Landscape with Waterfall, c.1670 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Waterfall c.1670

Oil Painting
$1844
Canvas Print
$55.39
SKU: RJV-13458
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 101.2 x 142.2 cm
The Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom

Rocky Landscape, c.1650 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Rocky Landscape c.1650

Oil Painting
$1975
Canvas Print
$63.82
SKU: RJV-13459
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 102.8 x 125.2 cm
The Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom

Landscape with a Village, c.1650/55 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with a Village c.1650/55

Oil Painting
$1844
Canvas Print
$61.01
SKU: RJV-13460
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 72.5 x 90.4 cm
The Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom

Sunrise in a Wood, c.1670 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Sunrise in a Wood c.1670

Oil Painting
$1808
Canvas Print
$66.20
SKU: RJV-13461
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 89.6 x 76.7 cm
The Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom

A Wooded Landscape with Mill, n.d. by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

A Wooded Landscape with Mill n.d.

Oil Painting
$1670
Canvas Print
$67.75
SKU: RJV-13462
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Landscape with Cornfield, c.1660/69 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Cornfield c.1660/69

Oil Painting
$1405
Canvas Print
$73.07
SKU: RJV-13463
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Landscape with a Watermill, c.1680 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with a Watermill c.1680

Oil Painting
$1458
Canvas Print
$53.30
SKU: RJV-13464
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 42.5 x 61.6 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, USA

Wooded Hillside with a View of Bentheim Castle, c.1655/60 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Hillside with a View of Bentheim Castle c.1655/60

Oil Painting
$1768
Canvas Print
$62.13
SKU: RJV-13465
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 60.2 x 73.9 cm
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Landscape with a River, n.d. by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with a River n.d.

Oil Painting
$1558
Canvas Print
$62.13
SKU: RJV-13466
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

The Dunes near Haarlem, n.d. by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

The Dunes near Haarlem n.d.

Oil Painting
$1667
Canvas Print
$72.37
SKU: RJV-13467
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 70 x 65.6 cm
City Art Gallery, Southampton, United Kingdom

Winter Landscape, n.d. by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Winter Landscape n.d.

Oil Painting
$1231
Canvas Print
$62.41
SKU: RJV-13468
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Landscape with Wooded Hillock , n.d. by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Wooded Hillock n.d.

Oil Painting
$1443
Canvas Print
$69.42
SKU: RJV-13469
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 57 x 63.7 cm
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

Landscape with a Waterfall and Castle, c.1670 by Ruisdael | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with a Waterfall and Castle c.1670

Oil Painting
$1691
Canvas Print
$58.07
SKU: RJV-13470
Jacob van Ruisdael
Original Size: 70.5 x 55.2 cm
Dayton Art Institute, Ohio, USA

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