Wooded Landscape with Shepherd and Flock by a River

Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael (Dutch, 1628 or 1629–1682)

about 1655–60

Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas

Dimensions109.2 x 142.2 cm (43 x 56 in.)
Framed: 146.1 x 170.8 x 11.4 cm (57 1/2 x 67 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.)

Credit LinePromised gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art

Accession numberL-R 1039.2016

On View

On view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

Ruisdael had a flair for the dramatic. In this large painting, a bare oak tree, splintered by lightning, demands our attention. The oak as well as the uprooted birch tree in the foreground serve as powerful reminders of the brute force of nature. These massive forms, characteristic of Ruisdael’s works in the 1650s, are set against distant hills and bucolic meadows, dotted with sheep, typical of the Dutch-German border. The contrast between lush greenery and broken trees may be a statement about the never-ending cycle of life and death.

ProvenanceProbably late 18th century, acquired by the Foljambe family, Osberton Hall, Nottinghamshire; passed by descent within the Foljambe family [see note 1]. By 1998, Simon Dickinson (dealer), London. 1998, sold by Noortman Master Paintings, London, and Haboldt and Co., London and Paris, to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA.

NOTES:
[1] Provenance taken from Seymour Slive, Jacob Ruisdael (New Haven, 2001), pp. 52-353, cat. no. 479, according to whom the owners from whom Simon Dickinson acquired the painting did not know when it had entered the the Foljambe collection. Most of the Foljambe collection was purchased toward the end of the 18th century.