Lot 15: *SALOMON VAN RUYSDAEL (1600/03-1670)

signed and dated on the boat S.VRUYSDAEL 1644 (VR linked) oil on panel Salomon van Ruysdael is best known for his atmospheric river scenes, such as the present example, that he began painting in the 1630s. These scenes, both real and imagined, were painted in and around Haarlem where the artist lived and worked. Though his teacher is unknown, his earliest works (circa 1626)-29) reflect the influence of Esias van de Velde who worked in Haarlem from 1609-18. Together with his contemporary, Jan van Goyen, Ruysdael was one of the leading proponents in the 1630s of ``tonal'' landscape painting characterized by their extreme restraint of color. By the 1640s, Ruysdael began to move away from this monochromatic palette, introducing more varied hues. The composition of this work of 1644 is very similar to a Ruysdael, dated 1645, in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg (see W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, 1975, p. 148, no. 514, pl. 30). Both paintings share the same dense, wooded area to the left which sweeps away towards a fishing village on the horizon. In the deep shadows of the foliage to the left smallcraft, laden with figures, emerge towards the casual anglers in the foreground and in the middle distance yachts sail away from the riverbank. The paintings, which are both on panel, are executed in a very similar technique; the foliage is painted in a thin, transparent style using different hues of green and brown and the horizon is painted with thick, creamy, broad bands of paint which are tinted with subtle hints of pink.

Sale: Sotheby's, London, November 30, 1983, lot 90, sold for £55,000 Sale: Christie's, London, April 7, 1995, lot 16, purchased by the present collector for £65,000 ($104,546)