Lot 8
  • 8

Salomon van Ruysdael Naarden 1600/3 - 1670 Haarlem

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Description

  • Salomon van Ruysdael
  • A River Landscape with Boatbuilders
  • signed with monogram and dated lower left SVR 1636
  • oil on panel

Provenance

Lieversberg Collection, Cologne;
C. Geuljans, Aix-la Chapelle;
By whom sold ("Collection C. Geuljans"), Amsterdam, F. Muller & Cie, April 24, 1906, lot 53 (1,350 florins);
With Th. Bonjean, Paris, no. 6169 (from a label on the reverse);
Joseph Homberg, Paris;
His sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, May 11, 1923, lot 33 (for 41,000 francs) to Stettiner;
With Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, London;
Bernard Forbes, 8th Earl of Granard (1874-1948), and by descent in the family;
Anonymous sale ("The Property of a European Noble Family"), London, Christie's, December 13, 1996, lot 4, there purchased by the present collector.

Literature

W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, 2nd ed., Berlin 1975, p. 146, no. 501.

Catalogue Note

This painting epitomizes many qualities of the style for which Salomon van Ruysdael has become so renowned a landscape painter.  What many consider the apex of the artist's career is the so-called tonal phase, which spans 1632-1640, and of which this picture is a prime example.  The restrained palette and sensitive treatment of the different textures of the water, trees and shore, as well as the subtle play of light on these elements make this picture a quiet and still moment in time captured by the hand of a highly gifted artist.  Furthermore, the presence of the boatbuilders along the shore not only enlivens the scene and engages the viewer, but also adds to the calm and serene atmosphere of the scene, rather than becoming a disquieting element.