Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael Haarlem 1628/9 - 1682 Amsterdam

Grant Adam Gottlob Moltke (1710-1792), Copenhagen, by 1756;
Thence by descent to Count Frederick Christian Moltke, Copenhagen, from 1875;
His sale, Copenhagen, Winkel & Magnussen, 1-2 June 1931, lot 115, for Kr. 26,000;
Carl Salomonsen, Copenhagen, 1931-44;
Thence by descent to Ww. Salomonsen, by whom sold, London, Christie's, 14 May 1965, lot 97, for 4,500 gns. to Cramer;
With G. Cramer, The Hague, 1966-67;
Private collection, Germany;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 30 November 1979, lot 134, for £24,000;
With G. Cramer, The Hague, 1980, by whom sold to a private collector;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 4 July 1997, lot 4;
Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 27 January 2000, lot 4, where purchased by a private collector for $250,000;
Sold by the above ("Property from a Private Collection"), New York, Sotheby's, 27 January 2005, lot 187, where acquired by the present collector.

The Hague, G. Cramer, 1966-67, no. 17;
Amsterdam, Amsterdams Historisch Museum, 4th C.I.N.O.A. Exhibition, 27 March - 31 May 1970, no. 47;
The Hague, G. Cramer, 1980, no. 85 (supplement).

G. Morell, Katalog der Gemäldesammlung Adam Gottlob Moltke, Amalienborg Palace, 1756, probably no. 211 or 212 (MS. catalogue now at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen);
N.L. Høyen, Fortegnelse over Den Moltkese Malerisamling, Copenhagen 1856, pp. 26-27, no. 58;
J. Smith, A Supplement to the Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. IX, London 1842, p. 710, no. 91;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. IV, London 1912, p. 78, no. 235;
Musée de Tableaux du Comte de Moltke, Copenhagen 1913, no. 58;
J. Rosenberg, Jacob van Ruisdael, Berlin 1928, p. 83, no. 175;
Catalogue no. 13, exhibition catalogue, The Hague, G. Cramer, 1966-67, no. 17, reproduced;
4th C.I.N.O.A. Exhibition, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam, Amsterdams Historisch Museum, 27 March - 31 May 1970, p. 94, cat. no. 47, reproduced;
Catalogue no. 22 (Supplement), exhibition catalogue, The Hague, G. Cramer, 1980, no. 85;
S. Slive, Jacob van Ruisdael, New Haven 2001, p. 196, cat. no. 195, reproduced.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The original canvas is lined and the paint layer is stable. There are some discoloured retouchings to the paint layer in the sky where it is thin and the ground colour is breaking through. The paint surface in the mid and foreground has shrunk and fractured into a filigree of pale cracks which, coupled with compromised glazing in the shadows, has led to a reduction in the sharpness of the composition. Under U-V light a patchy old varnish is visible."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This 'Nordic' landscape was considered by Seymour Slive to have been painted in the artist's studio in Amsterdam, during the 1660s it is characteristic of the mountainous valleys with rushing torrents and waterfalls which form the largest category of paintings in Ruisdael's oeuvre. Despite the fact that the scenes appear to have been observed directly from nature, Ruisdael never actually witnessed these Scandinavian landscapes in person. He never visited this part of northern Europe and his works appear to be largely based on the paintings, drawings and engravings of Allart van Everdingen (1621-1675) who travelled to the south-eastern coast of Norway and western Sweden in 1644. A year later Van Everdingen settled in Haarlem and Ruisdael may conceivably have seen these works as a very young artist active in the same city. However it was not until much later, from the late 1650s onwards, that Ruisdael incorporated Van Everdingen's stock of Scandinavian motifs in his landscapes and Slive has convincingly argued that the quality of Ruisdael's works far exceeds that of Van Everdingen's 'Nordic' scenes. The vertical format, in which the cascade is set dramatically against a densely wooded forest and mountainous valley, was much favoured by Ruisdael. Of these scenes Slive wrote: "They impress through the variations he achieves by differing the height of the drop of the falls, the direction of the rushing water, the character of the boiling foam, the formation of the rocks and terrain, the variation of colour and the organization of the powerful contrasts of light and dark areas".¹

Count Adam Gottlob Moltke (1710-1792) was one of the most distinguished collectors in Northern Europe during the 18th Century. His immense wealth derived from his association with King Frederick V, whom he advised on political, economic and artistic matters. He had quarters in the Royal Palace of Amalienborg which were decorated by Boucher, Oudry and Joseph-Marie Vien, and his collection consisted of predominantly Dutch and Flemish paintings, all of which were housed in the great hall. Moltke owned three other works by Ruisdael, which included two 'Nordic' landscapes, both of similar format to the present work.²

Johan Christian Claussen Dahl (1788-1857) made a faithful copy after this picture in 1812 when it was in the Moltke collection and the following year he painted a copy of another Ruisdael Waterfall in the same collection, both of which are today in the National Gallery, Oslo³.

1. S. Slive, Jacob van Ruisdael: Master of Landscape, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 26 June - 18 September 2005; Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 23 October 2005 - 5 February 2006; London, Royal Academy of Arts, 25 February - 4 June 2006, p. 9.
2. See Slive, under Literature, cat. nos. 175 and 176.
3. Inv. no. 50 (oil on canvas, signed and dated 1812; 101 by 87 cm.) and inv. no. 49 (oil on canvas, signed and dated 1813; 101 by 87.5 cm.) respectively.