Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjaːkɔp fɑn ˈrœyzdaːl] ; c. 1629 – 10 March 1682) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He is generally considered the pre-eminent landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age, a period of great wealth and cultural achievement when Dutch painting became highly popular. Prolific and versatile, Ruisdael depicted a wide variety of landscape subjects. From 1646 he painted Dutch countryside scenes of remarkable quality for a young man.
After a trip to Germany in 1650, his landscapes took on a more heroic character. In his late work, conducted when he lived and worked in Amsterdam, he added city panoramas and seascapes to his regular repertoire. In these, the sky often took up two-thirds of the canvas. In total he produced more than 150 Scandinavian views featuring waterfalls. Ruisdael's only registered pupil was Meindert Hobbema, one of several artists who painted figures in his landscapes. Hobbema's work has at times been confused with Ruisdael's.
Executed in Oil on canvas, measuring 98 × 130 cm (38 7/8 × 51 3/8 in.); Framed: 101 × 131.5 × 8.6 cm (39 3/4 × 51 3/4 × 3 3/8 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Jacob van Ruisdael builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
From the museum
The deteriorating Castle of Egmond was a visible reminder of the Dutch struggle for independence: it was sacrificially destroyed during the revolt against Spain more than 80 years before Jacob van Ruisdael produced this painting. Landscape specialists like Van Ruisdael invoked Dutch patriotism by selecting sites representative of the republic, including ruins, windmills, and city views. Ruisdael distinguished himself by working on an unusually large scale and by imbuing his scenes with drama through low horizon lines and swollen clouds.
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right in ligature: JVR.
Provenance
Possibly Collection of Jean-André Tardieu; sold, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, May 10-11, 1867, lot 51 as Les Ruines du Château de Brederode for 3,650 francs. Baron Etienne Martin de Beurnonville (1789-1876), château de la Chapelle, Labbeville, Val d'Oise, France; sale of his estate, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, May 9, 1881, lot 451 as Ruins of the Castle of Brederode; sold to Charles Sedelmeyer (1837-1925), Paris, for 10,000 francs [annotated sale cat., Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague; copy in curatorial object file]. György Ráth (1828-1905), Budapest, by 1892 until before 1905 [this and the following according to Frimmel 1892]. P & D. Colnaghi, London, by 1906; sold to Oscar Huldschinsky (died 1931), Berlin, by Jan. 1906 [Berlin 1906]; offered for sale, Paul Cassirer, Berlin, May 10-11, 1928, lot 29, bought in at 61,000 marks [according to Rosenberg 1928 and La Revue d'Art 1928]. Galerie Goudstikker, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, by Dec. 1928 to at least Feb. 1929 [Rotterdam and Amsterdam 1928]. Bachstitz Gallery, The Hague, by 1932 [this and the following according to email correspondence with Agnews, July 2004, in curatorial object file]; consigned to Agnews, London, Oct. 1932 [not part of the Von Auspitz collection, but included in the 1932 catalogue, no. 27]; returned to the Bachstitz Gallery, The Hague, Mar. 1933 until at least 1935 [inventory nos. G95 and Ru1356 in the Bachstitz Gallery archive at the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague; Bulletin of the Bachstitz Gallery 1935]. Paul Cassirer, Ltd., London, 1947, as agent for an anonymous family, with Otto Reichenheim, Canfield Gardens, London, as intermediary; sold to the Art Institute, 1947.
Where to see Landscape with the Ruins of the Castle of Egmond
