Lot 49: - Salomon van Ruysdael , Naarden 1600/3 - 1670 Haarlem A river landscape with a view of the Bijlhouwerstoren, Utrecht, set in a village on the bank oil on oak panel

bears signature lower left: Ruysdael oil on oak panel

measurements note 44.3 by 55.3 cm.; 17 1/2 by 21 3/4 in.

W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, Berlin 1938, no. 560;
W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, 2nd revised ed., Berlin 1975, p. 156, no. 560;
Voorkeuren, 1985, p. 60, reproduced in colour p. 61.

J. Dintl, Vienna;
His sale, Vienna, Miethke, 23 November 1889, for 501 florins to Pösch;
Marquise d'Aoust, St. Léger, near Paris;
His anonymous sale ("Marquise de X"), Paris, Féral, 5 June 1924, lot 79, for 37,150 Francs to Kleinberger;
With F. Kleinberger, New York, 1925;
With C. Benedict, Berlin, 1933;
With Karl Haberstock, Berlin, 1934;
S. Buchenau, Niendorf;
Dr. Hans Wetzlar, Amsterdam, by 1956.

The Bijlhouwerstoren ('Axe-hewer's Tower') no longer stands, but used to form part of the southern ramparts of the city of Utrecht, and is recorded in drawings by Herman Saftleven and Anthonie Waterloo among others. Ruysdael has taken the motif of the tower and set it in an imaginary riverside village.

Stechow dates this picture to the 1660s. Its colour scheme, piled up clouds and placid subject matter are indeed typical of Ruysdael's work in the first half of that decade.

We are grateful to the heirs of Jacob and Rosa Oppenheimer, former owners of C. Benedict & Co, for their help in cataloging this lot.