Jacob Salomonsz. van Ruysdael Haarlem circa 1629/30 - 1681

With Kunsthandel Lucas, The Hague, before 1940;
With C. Rol, Voorburg, by 1941, from whom bought by the present owner.

The present lot is a characteristic and fine example of the art of Jacob Salomonsz. Van Ruysdael, whose oeuvre almost entirely consists of forest scenes. These are characterized by a quiet atmosphere and warm colour palette consisting of a variation of red browns to deep greens in the trees. The preferred scale is the medium size cabinet format. Other examples are a signed Wooded landscape with cattle, recorded in a private collection, Augsburg and a Wooded landscape with cows in a stream, formerly on the Berlin art market (see W. Bernt, Die Niederländischen Maler und Zeichner des 17. Jahrhunderts, Munich 1970, vol. III, nos. 996-7, reproduced).

As pointed out by Brown, Abraham Bredius was the first to recognize this coherent group of forests scenes usually including cattle, all with a distinctive JvR-monogram, as by the hand of Jacob Salomonsz. van Ruysdael and judged these as stylistically dependent on the later work of his father Salomon (see C. Brown&N. MacLaren, The Dutch School, 1600–1900, National Gallery Catalogues, London 1991, vol. I, p. 400). The earliest dated picture known is from 1650, the latest from 1668. Dated 1656, the present lot is a relatively early example.

As suggested by Stechow, Jacob Salomonsz. as a Haarlem landscapist is best compared with fellow-citizen painters such as Pieter Molijn, Jan Looten, Anthonie Waterloo, Roelof Jansz. Van Vries en Cornelis Decker, who equally depicted the rustic landscape scenes around their hometown (see W. Stechow, Dutch Landscape Painting in the Seventeenth Century, London 1980, p. 200, note 45).

This lot is offered with a photostat certificate by Professor W. Vogelzang confirming this work to be by Jacob Salomonsz. van Ruysdael.