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

Türling Collection, Amsterdam;
On the art market in Holland, circa 1925 in Paris, and possibly then in the collection of Frits Lugt, (according to a manuscript annotation in the R.K.D., The Hague);
With Dr. C. Benedict & Co., Berlin, by 1926, and until July 1934, when sold to Paul Cassirer;
With Paul Cassirer, Amsterdam, by whom sold to Robert Maas in July 1934 (but kept with Cassirer);
In the Cassirer stockbook, one of 16 works entered by Dr. Helmuth Lütjens as the Property of Robert Maas on 17 September 1938: 'No. 47 Jacob Ruisdael Landschap 33 1/2: 44 cm.';
In the Cassirer stockbook of 1947, entered by Dr. Lütjens: 'No. 47 Jacob Ruisdael Duinenlandscap 33 1/2: 44 cm Lili Maas 29 September' [1947], and then annotated by him: '20 Jan [19] 48 Neuen & Wettin v/eigenaar' (Neuen & Wettin were shippers and voor eigenaar means 'for the owner' - this records the date that Dr. Lütjens released the picture to the shipper to or on behalf of Lili Maas);
With Dr. C. Benedict, Paris;
By whom sold to Joost Rosenthal and Fred. Enneking, Amsterdam;
By whom sold to Pieter de Boer, Amsterdam;
From whom acquired by Günter Henle in 1961;
Günter & Anneliese Henle, Duisburg;
Thence by inheritance to Anneliese Henle;
By whose estate sold, "The Henle Collection of Old Master Paintings", London, Sotheby's, 3-4 December 1997, lot 3, withdrawn;
Sold ("Property from the Henle Collection"), London, Sotheby's, 12 July 2001, lot 46, for £322,500 to the present collector.
 

Brussels, Exposition Universelle..., vol. I, Cinq Siècle d'Art, 24 May - 13 October 1935, no. 762 (p. 184 of the catalogue);
Enschede, Groote Societeit-Kunstzaal, Tentoonstelling van 16e en 7e Eusche Schilderijen uit het bezit..., Paul Cassirer & Co., 1 - 6 December 1938, no. 15;
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Die Sammlung Henle, 22 February - 5 April 1964, no. 32. 

J. Rosenberg, Jacob van Ruisdael, Berlin 1928, p. 105, no. 529;
H.P. Bremmer, "Duingezicht - door Jacob van Ruisdael - 1647", in Maandblad voor beeldende kunsten, no. 22, 1946, pp. 16-19, reproduced on p. 17 (as 'Privaatbezit Amsterdam');
E.J. Walford, Jacob van Ruisdael and the Perception of Landscape, London 1991, p. 61, reproduced fig. 42;
S. Slive, Jacob van Ruisdael.  A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Drawings and Etchings, New Haven & London 2001, pp. 421-22, no. 597, reproduced in colour.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The oak panel is in a good condition. There is 3cm horizontal hairline split, upper right, which is unstable. Under U-V light a small scattering of retouchings can be seen in the sky. These are mostly reducing strong horizontal wood grain. The trunk of the tree to the left has been slightly augmented to reduce the thinness of the paint here, as has the red of the tunic to the standing figure in the centre. There are the remains of a discoloured varnish in the darker passages of the foliage, lower right. The overall quality of the paint surface is high. There is a freshness and crispness to it with almost no evidence of injudicious cleaning. A slight tonal enhancement would be achieved if the varnish were removed."
"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 is a characteristic early landscape by Jacob van Ruisdael, painted at a time when his style was developing rapidly. Many of these early landscapes are on small panels like this one. Walford (see Literature) suggests that the Henle picture may derive from a putative sketching expedition made with Jacob's father Isaack van Ruysdael, by whom a similar subject, with a curving fence surmounting a dune, is known (oil on panel, 40 by 60cm.).¹  The organization of the composition, however, with a dune rising to the left, a sparse clump of trees in the centre, and a stream to the right drawing the eye towards the distance, reflects Jacob van Ruisdael's etching of Cottages and a Clump of Trees on a Small River, done one year earlier.²

The speed with which Jacob van Ruisdael's style developed, as well as his astonishing diversity, may be observed by comparing the Henle picture with the more sophisticated Bush on the Dunes, painted in the same year in Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlung, and the radically different panoramic View of Naarden, also of 1647, in Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.³

Note on the provenance
This picture was included in the catalogue of the sale of the Henle Collection in these Rooms on 3 December 1997, lot 3, but was withdrawn in the light of concern over the wartime provenance of the painting. In particular, information supplied by Eduard Plietszch to the Henles, and incorporated in the 1964 exhibition catalogue, suggested that this picture had been acquired for Hitler's Gallery at Linz in 1941 ('1941 für die Linzer Galerie erworben'). Subsequent research has revealed no other evidence that this picture was acquired by any means for Linz, and there is no consequent record of its recovery after the war. Furthermore, information kindly supplied in 2001 by Dr. Walther Feilchenfeldt, who has access to the Cassirer archive, shows that the picture was sold to Robert Maas (who was emigrating to the U.S.A.) in 1934, recorded in the Cassirer stockbook of 1938 as the property of Robert Maas under no. 47, and again with the same number in the stockbook of 1947 as the property of Robert's widow Lili Maas, to whom the picture was sent in the same year. All these entries are in the hand of Dr. Herlmuth Lütjens, who looked after the Cassirer Gallery in Amsterdam throughout the war while the owner was in exile, taking out Dutch citizenship shortly before the outbreak of hostilities.  This does not prove that the picture was not 'acquired for Linz', but it does demonstrate beyond doubt that the picture was in the same family ownership in 1934, 1938 and 1947.

This picture was subsequently re-offered with the correct provenance and the note above in 12 July 2001, where it was sold to the present collector.

1.  Formerly with S. Nystad, The Hague; see Walford, under Literature, p. 61, reproduced fig. 41.
2.  See Slive, under Literature, pp. 594-95, no. E1, reproduced.
3.  Munich, Alte Pinakothek, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesdammlungen, no. 1022; see Slive, op. cit., p. 427, no. 607; and Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, inv. no. 1930.99; idem, p. 104, no. 78, reproduced.