Jacob van Ruisdael facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jacob van Ruisdael
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Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede (c. 1670)
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| Born |
Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael
1628 or 1629 |
| Died | 10 March 1682 Amsterdam, Dutch Republic
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| Nationality | Dutch |
| Known for | Landscape painting |
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Notable work
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The Jewish Cemetery, Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede, View of Haarlem with Bleaching Fields, The Ray of Light, A Wooded Marsh |
| Movement | Dutch Golden Age |
| Patron(s) | Cornelis de Graeff (1599–1664) |
Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael (born around 1629 – died March 10, 1682) was a famous Dutch painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He is known as the most important landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age. This was a time when the Netherlands was very rich and had many cultural achievements. Dutch painting, especially, became very popular.
Ruisdael was a busy and skilled artist. He painted many different kinds of landscapes. From 1646, he painted Dutch countryside scenes that were amazing for a young artist. After visiting Germany in 1650, his landscapes became more grand and dramatic. Later in his life, when he lived in Amsterdam, he also painted city views and seascapes. In many of his paintings, the sky took up two-thirds of the canvas. He created over 150 paintings of Scandinavian scenes with waterfalls.
Meindert Hobbema was Ruisdael's only known student. Hobbema was one of several artists who added people to Ruisdael's landscapes. Sometimes, Hobbema's work has been mistaken for Ruisdael's. It can be tricky to figure out which paintings are truly Ruisdael's. This is because three other family members were also landscape painters. Some of them even spelled their name "Ruysdael." These included his father Isaack van Ruisdael, his famous uncle Salomon van Ruysdael, and his cousin, also named Jacob van Ruysdael.
Ruisdael's paintings were popular in the Dutch Republic during his lifetime. Today, his art is found in museums and private collections worldwide. The National Gallery in London, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg have the largest collections. Ruisdael's style influenced landscape painting around the world. This includes the English Romantics, the Barbizon school in France, and the Hudson River School in the US. He also inspired many Dutch landscape artists for generations.
Contents
Who Was Jacob van Ruisdael?
His Early Life and Family
Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael was born in Haarlem in 1628 or 1629. He came from a family of painters, all of whom painted landscapes. Because there were so many painters in his family, and because the Ruisdael name was spelled in different ways, it has been hard to know all the details of his life and to be sure which paintings are his.
The name Ruisdael comes from a castle, which is now gone, in the village of Blaricum. This village was where Jacob's grandfather, Jacob de Goyer, lived. When De Goyer moved to Naarden, three of his sons changed their last name to Ruysdael or Ruisdael. They probably did this to show where they came from. Two of De Goyer's sons became painters: Jacob's father Isaack van Ruisdael and his famous uncle Salomon van Ruysdael. Jacob always spelled his name with an "i." His cousin, Jacob Salomonszoon van Ruysdael, who was also a landscape artist, spelled his name with a "y."
We don't know who Ruisdael's teacher was. People often think he studied with his father and uncle. However, there is no proof of this. He seems to have been greatly influenced by other landscape painters in Haarlem at the time. These included Cornelis Vroom and Allaert van Everdingen.
The earliest date on Ruisdael's paintings and etchings is 1646. Two years later, he became a member of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. By this time, landscape paintings were as popular as history paintings in Dutch homes. This popularity of landscapes continued throughout Ruisdael's career.
Moving to Amsterdam and Travels
Around 1657, Ruisdael moved to Amsterdam. This was a rich city that likely offered more chances to sell his art. His friend and fellow Haarlem painter Allaert van Everdingen had already moved there and found success. Ruisdael lived and worked in Amsterdam for the rest of his life. In 1668, his name appeared as a witness at the wedding of Meindert Hobbema. Hobbema was his only known student.
For a landscape artist, Ruisdael did not travel very much. He visited Blaricum, Egmond aan Zee, and Rhenen in the 1640s. In 1650, he traveled with Nicolaes Berchem to Bentheim and Steinfurt in Germany. He might have gone to Germany again in 1661 with Hobbema. Even though Ruisdael painted many Norwegian landscapes, there is no record that he ever went to Scandinavia.
Some people have wondered if Ruisdael was also a doctor. An early writer about his life, Arnold Houbraken, said in 1718 that Ruisdael studied medicine and performed surgery. Records from the 1600s show a "Jacobus Ruijsdael" on a list of Amsterdam doctors. However, this name was crossed out. It also said he got his medical degree in France. Art historians have debated if this was the same Jacob van Ruisdael. Most think it was likely a different person, perhaps his cousin.
Ruisdael never married. According to Houbraken, he did this "to save time to serve his old father." We don't know what Ruisdael looked like, as there are no known portraits or self-portraits of him.
His Later Years and Legacy
A story that Ruisdael died poor in an almshouse (a home for the elderly) in Haarlem was proven wrong. It was actually his cousin, Jacob Salomonszoon, who died there. Ruisdael seemed to live comfortably, even after a big economic crisis in 1672. His paintings were quite valuable. In a study of records from 1650 to 1679, Ruisdael's paintings sold for an average of 40 guilders. This was much higher than the average of 19 guilders for all paintings. He was the seventh highest-ranked Dutch painter based on price.
Ruisdael died in Amsterdam on March 10, 1682. He was buried on March 14, 1682, in the Saint Bavo's Church in Haarlem. This was a Protestant church at the time.
What Jacob van Ruisdael Painted
His Early Paintings (1646-1650s)
Ruisdael's early work, from about 1646 to the early 1650s, shows simple scenes. He carefully studied nature, painting dunes, woods, and different weather effects. He used thicker paint than earlier artists, which made his trees look very rich and alive. His paintings of trees were so accurate that today's scientists can tell what kind of trees they are. His early sketches show themes that would appear in all his work: a feeling of open space, bright light, and a clear atmosphere. He achieved this clear air with small, dot-like touches of chalk. Most of his thirty surviving chalk sketches are from this time.
A great example of his early style is Dune Landscape, painted in 1646. This painting was different from the usual Dutch style of showing wide views of dunes. Instead, Ruisdael put tree-covered dunes right in the middle of the painting. A cloudy sky shone bright light onto a sandy path. This created a grand effect. A curator at the Hermitage Museum said it was "so unexpected in the work of an inexperienced painter."
Ruisdael's first panoramic landscape, View of Naarden with the Church at Muiderberg in the Distance, was painted in 1647. He returned to the theme of a huge sky and a distant town, in this case his father's birthplace, in his later years.
For reasons we don't know, Ruisdael almost stopped dating his work after 1653. Only five paintings from the 1660s have a date, and none from the 1670s or 1680s. So, figuring out when his later works were painted often involves detective work and guesses.
All thirteen of Ruisdael's known etchings are from his early period, with the first one dated 1646. We don't know who taught him how to etch. His etchings don't show much influence from the famous artist Rembrandt. Few original prints of his etchings exist. This suggests that Ruisdael saw them as experiments and didn't make many copies.
His Middle Period (After 1650)
After Ruisdael's trip to Germany, his landscapes became more dramatic and grand. The shapes in his paintings became larger and stood out more. Bentheim Castle, painted in 1653, is one of many paintings Ruisdael made of this German castle. Almost all of them show the castle high on a hilltop. In reality, the castle is on a low hill. Ruisdael changed the setting to make it look more impressive. Art historians see these changes as proof of his great skill in creating compositions.
During his trip to Germany, Ruisdael saw water mills. He became the first artist to make them a main subject in his paintings. Two Water Mills with an Open Sluice, from 1653, is a great example. The ruins of Egmont Castle were another favorite subject. They appear in The Jewish Cemetery, which he painted in two versions. In these works, Ruisdael shows nature taking over man-made structures, like trees and bushes growing around the cemetery.
Ruisdael's first Scandinavian scenes feature large fir trees, rough mountains, big rocks, and rushing rivers. Even though they look very real, they were based on other artworks, not on his own travels. There is no record that Ruisdael ever went to Scandinavia. However, his fellow Haarlem painter van Everdingen had traveled there and made this type of landscape popular. Ruisdael's work quickly became even better than van Everdingen's. Ruisdael painted over 150 Scandinavian scenes with waterfalls. Waterfall in a Mountainous Landscape with a Ruined Castle, from around 1665–1670, is considered his best by expert Seymour Slive.
In this period, Ruisdael also started painting coastal scenes and sea pictures. He was influenced by artists like Simon de Vlieger and Jan Porcellis. One of his most dramatic is Rough Sea at a Jetty. It uses only a few colors: black, white, blue, and some brown. However, forest scenes remained a favorite subject. For example, A Wooded Marsh, from around 1665, shows a wild, ancient scene. It has broken birch and oak trees, with branches reaching for the sky above an overgrown pond.
His Later Paintings (After 1670)
In Ruisdael's last period, he began to paint mountain scenes. An example is Mountainous and Wooded Landscape with a River, from the late 1670s. This painting shows a rugged mountain range with the highest peak in the clouds. Ruisdael's subjects became very diverse. One art historian found thirteen types of landscapes in the Dutch Golden Age. Ruisdael painted all but two of them, and he was excellent at most. These included forests, rivers, dunes, country roads, wide views, imaginary landscapes, Scandinavian waterfalls, sea scenes, beach scenes, winter scenes, town views, and night scenes.
It is fitting that a windmill is the subject of one of Ruisdael's most famous works. Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede, painted in 1670, shows the town of Wijk bij Duurstede. This town is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Utrecht. The painting features a large, round windmill. In this artwork, Ruisdael brought together typical Dutch elements: flat land, water, and a wide sky. They all lead your eye to the equally typical Dutch windmill. This painting is still very popular. It ranks third in card sales at the Rijksmuseum, after Rembrandt's Night Watch and Vermeer's View of Delft. Windmills appeared in Ruisdael's paintings throughout his entire career.
During this time, he also painted many wide views of the Haarlem skyline and its bleaching fields. This specific type of painting was called Haerlempjes. In these, the clouds create different shades of light and shadow across the sky. The paintings often show Saint Bavo's Church, where Ruisdael would later be buried.
Even though Ruisdael lived in Amsterdam for over 25 years, the city appears rarely in his work. It is shown in his only known architectural drawing, which is of the inside of the Old Church. It also appears in views of the Dam square and in Panoramic view of the Amstel looking toward Amsterdam, one of his last paintings.
People are not often seen in Ruisdael's paintings. When they are, they were usually added by other artists. These artists included his student Meindert Hobbema, Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, Adriaen van de Velde, Philips Wouwerman, Jan Vonck, Thomas de Keyser, Gerard van Battum, and Jan Lingelbach.
Figuring Out Who Painted What
An expert named Seymour Slive has listed 694 paintings that he believes Ruisdael painted. He also lists 163 paintings that might be Ruisdael's, or that he thinks are definitely not. There are three main reasons why it's hard to be sure who painted some Ruisdael-style landscapes.
First, four members of the Ruysdael family were landscape painters. They had similar signatures. Some signatures were even changed later to look like Jacob's. This is made more confusing because Ruisdael himself used different versions of his signature. It usually says "JvRuisdael" or the symbol "JVR." Sometimes he used a small italic 's' and sometimes a Gothic long 's', like on Landscape with Waterfall.
Second, many 17th-century landscape paintings are not signed. They could have been painted by students or people copying his style.
Third, dishonest people copied Ruisdael's paintings to make money. The earliest story of this was told in 1718. A painter named Jan Griffier the Elder could copy Ruisdael's style so well that he often sold them as real Ruisdaels. He would even add small figures in the style of another artist, Wouwerman.
There isn't a big, organized effort to check all of Ruisdael's paintings. This is different from the scientific methods used to confirm Rembrandt's paintings.
Ruisdael's Influence on Art
Ruisdael greatly influenced landscape painting. His style affected artists from the English Romantics to the Barbizon school in France, and the Hudson River School in the US. He also inspired many generations of Dutch landscape artists.
English artists like Thomas Gainsborough, J. M. W. Turner, and John Constable were influenced by Ruisdael. Gainsborough drew a copy of a Ruisdael painting in the 1740s. Turner made many copies of Ruisdael's works. He even painted imaginary views of a port he called Port Ruysdael. Constable also copied Ruisdael's drawings, etchings, and paintings. He admired Ruisdael greatly from a young age. He once wrote after seeing a Ruisdael, "It haunts my mind and clings to my heart."
In the 19th century, Vincent van Gogh said Ruisdael was a major influence. He called Ruisdael's work "sublime." Van Gogh had two Ruisdael prints, The Bush and a Haerlempje, on his wall. He thought the Ruisdaels in the Louvre museum were "magnificent." His memories of Ruisdael's art shaped how he saw the French countryside. Claude Monet, who lived at the same time as Van Gogh, is also said to have been influenced by Ruisdael. Even Piet Mondriaan's simple art style has been linked back to Ruisdael's wide landscape views.
Over the centuries, Ruisdael's fame has gone up and down among art historians and critics. In 1718, Houbraken praised Ruisdael's skill in painting realistic water and sea. In 1781, Sir Joshua Reynolds, who started the Royal Academy, admired how fresh and powerful Ruisdael's landscapes were.
However, a few decades later, other English critics were not as impressed. In 1801, Henry Fuseli, a professor at the Royal Academy, disliked all Dutch landscape painting. He called it just a "copy of the spot." But one of Fuseli's students, Constable, continued to admire Ruisdael. Around the same time in Germany, the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe praised Ruisdael as a thoughtful artist, even a poet.
Later art historians have rated Ruisdael very highly. Kenneth Clark called him "the greatest master of the natural vision before Constable." Waldemar Januszczak said Ruisdael was a wonderful storyteller. Januszczak was especially impressed by Ruisdael's works as a teenager. He called him "a prodigy whom we should rank at number 8 or 9 on the Mozart scale." Seymour Slive says Ruisdael is generally seen as "the most important landscape artist of the Golden Age of Dutch art."
"Ruisdael really doesn't deserve to be underrated. ..[H]e was a prodigy whom we should rank at number 8 or 9 on the Mozart scale."
Ruisdael is now seen as the leading artist of the "classical" period in Dutch landscape art. This period built on the realistic "tonal" phase before it. The tonal phase used shades of color to create atmosphere. The classical phase aimed for a grander effect. Paintings were built with strong contrasts of solid shapes against the sky, and light against shadow. Often, a tree, animal, or windmill would be highlighted.
Many of Ruisdael's works have been shown in big art exhibitions around the world. However, it wasn't until 1981 that an exhibition was only about Ruisdael. More than fifty paintings and thirty-five drawings and etchings were shown. In 2006, the Royal Academy in London held a Ruisdael Master of Landscape exhibition. It displayed works from over fifty collections.
Where to Find Ruisdael's Art
Ruisdael's paintings are found in collections all over the world. The most notable collections are at the National Gallery in London, which has twenty paintings. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has sixteen paintings. The Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg has nine. In the US, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has five Ruisdaels. The J. Paul Getty Museum in California has three.
Sometimes, a Ruisdael painting is sold. In 2014, Dunes by the Sea was sold at Christie's in New York for $1,805,000.
There are 140 of his drawings still existing. The Rijksmuseum, the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, Dresden's Kupferstich-Kabinett, and the Hermitage each have many of them. Ruisdael's rare etchings are also spread out in different museums. No single collection has a print of all thirteen of his etchings.
Why Ruisdael's Art Matters
To understand Ruisdael's art, it's important to know about the amazing wealth and changes to the land during the Dutch Golden Age. During this time (between 1550 and 1650), the Netherlands became an independent country. Its landscape also changed a lot. Ruisdael's paintings of nature and new Dutch technology are connected to these changes.
One historian says that Dutch landscape painters were asked to "make a portrait of their homeland." This homeland had been won back twice by the Dutch people. First, they reclaimed land from the sea. Then, they fought off foreign invaders.
During the period between 1647 and 1672, rich merchants wanted large, fancy paintings. City leaders filled their town halls with grand artworks that showed republican messages. Also, ordinary middle-class Dutch people started buying art for the first time. This created a huge demand for all kinds of paintings.
This demand was met by many painter guilds. Master painters set up studios to produce many paintings quickly. In these studios, different artists would specialize in parts of a painting. For example, some would paint the people in landscapes. Masters would sometimes add a few touches to make a painting look like their own, even if students did most of the work. This helped them paint faster and sell more.
Landscape artists did not always need specific orders from customers. They could paint for their own stock to sell later. We don't know if Ruisdael sold his work directly to customers or through art dealers, or both. We only know of one specific order he received. This was a painting for the rich Amsterdam mayor, Cornelis de Graeff. Ruisdael painted this work together with Thomas de Keyser.
See also
In Spanish: Jacob van Ruisdael para niños
