Dunes

Gallery 364, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Main Building

Dunes

Early 1650s

Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael (Dutch (active Haarlem and Amsterdam), 1628/29–1682)

This small panel painting is a rare pure dune landscape. These tall dunes around Haarlem were a sandy and rolling terrain that was unusually varied for Holland. A traveler in a red jacket appears in many of the artist's paintings but forms an unusually central accent here, caught in dramatic light and emphasizing the difficulty of the terrain. As in the drawings in his 1646 sketchbook, Ruisdael here explores the Haarlem-area topography in the same way locals were encouraged to do by publications and prints.

Gallery 364, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Object Details

Title:

Dunes

Date:

Early 1650s

Artist:

Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael (Dutch (active Haarlem and Amsterdam), 1628/29–1682)

Medium:

Oil on panel

Dimensions:

13 3/16 × 19 3/8 inches (33.5 × 49.2 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

John G. Johnson Collection, 1917

Accession Number:

Cat. 563

Geography:

Made in Netherlands, Europe

Provenance

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Gallery 364, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Main Building

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