Lot 35: l - Salomon van Ruysdael Naarden 1600/3 - 1670 Haarlem , A river estuary with cows in the foreground shallows, a fisherman unloading his catch beyond oil on oak panel

signed with monogram and dated lower left: SVR 1657 ( VR in ligature) oil on oak panel

measurements note 40.4 by 61 cm.; 15 7/8 by 24 in.

London, Eugene Slatter Gallery, 1953, no. 1;
Amsterdam, P. de Boer, Collection 1963. Catalogue of Old Pictures, 1963, no. 37;
Amsterdam, P. de Boer, Collection 1964. Catalogue of Old Pictures, 1964, no. 35;
Maastricht, Eurohal, Pictura, 1977, p. 37;
New York, National Academy of Design, Dutch and Flemish Paintings from New York Private Collections, 1988, no. 45;
On loan to the Koninklijk Schilderijenkabinet Het Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1993-98.

W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, Berlin 1938, p. 134, no. 556;
W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, Berlin 1975, p. 151, no. 527A [and p. 155, no. 556];
A. Jensen Adams, Dutch and Flemish Paintings from New York Private Collections, exhibition catalogue, New York 1988, p. 110, no. 45, reproduced p. 94.

Maurice Kann, Paris;
His sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 9 June 1911, lot 67, for 22,500 FF. to Knoedler;
With Knoedler, London;
Joseph Michaelis, Cape Town;
By descent to Sir Max Michaelis, London and Cape Town;
With P. & D. Colnaghi, London (according to a label on the reverse);
With Eugene Slatter Gallery, London, 1953;
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 27 March 1963, lot 41, for £4,500 to Brookman;
With P. de Boer, Amsterdam, 1963-64;
Private collection;
Anonymous sale ("Property from a Private Collection"), London, Sotheby's, 17 December 1998, lot 43;
With Richard Green, London, from whom acquired by the present owner.

PROPERTY FROM THE LONDON RESIDENCE OF DIMITRI MAVROMMATIS
By 1657, when this picture was executed, Salomon van Ruysdael had long abandoned his 'tonal phase' which he had employed to great effect throughout the 1630s; this phase was characterised by an extremely restrained use of colour and contrast, the palette restricted to light greens, greys and browns. In this picture Ruysdael uses the far richer palette that he developed from the mid-1640s onwards. As is typical of estuary scenes of this date Ruysdael sets the scene beneath a dominant sky which fills almost three-quarters of the picture plane, creating a sense of depth by silhouetting the cows and fisherman in the foreground against a background that lightens in tone as it recedes along the diagonal, starting lower left and extending to the right. Many of his river and estuary landscapes from the 1640s and 1650s employ this basic compositional pattern and include many of the same compositional elements, such as the cattle paddling in the shallows, a single sailing boat occupying the middle distance, and a town, sometimes identifiable, in the distance. Few though are as expansive as this exquisite painting, which perfectly captures the vast openess of the low-lying Dutch landscape.

The central section of this painting may be compared to an upright work that sold New York, Christie's, 11 January 1996, lot 39, which appears to depict the same view, although the details (the cows and fisherman) have been pushed further to the left.