Salomon van Ruysdael

Private Collection, England;
With H.M. Clark, London;
Acquired from the above in April 1919 by Wilhelm Caspar Escher, Zürich (1859-1929) for £1,000;
Thence by descent.

Zürich, Kunsthaus, 1921, on loan;
Zürich, Kunsthaus, Ausstellung von Werken aus dem Besitz von Mitgleidern der Vereinigung Zürcher Kunstfreunde, 1927, no. 228 (as Jacob Ruisdael);
Zürich, Kunsthaus, Ausländische Kunst in Zürich, 1943, no. 158 (as by Jacob Ruisdael);
Basel, Kunstmuseum, Meisterwerke Holländische Malerei des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts, 1945, no. 85;
Utrecht, Centraal Museum,  Verborgen. Nederlandse en Vlamse schilderijn uit de 16de en 17de eeuw uit de collective W.C. Escher, 2002, no. 14;
Winterthur, Museum Oskar Reinhart, Oranje! Meisterwerke holländischer Malerei, 29 November 2014 – 5 April 2015, no. 18.

W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, Berlin 1938, no. 217;
W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, Berlin 1975, p. 99, no. 204a;
R.E.O. Ekkart, in the catalogue of the exhibition, Verborgen. Nederlandse en Vlamse schilderijn uit de 16de en 17de eeuw uit de collective W.C. Escher, Utrecht, Centraal Museum, 2002, pp. 82–83, 122, no. 14.

The panel is cradled. The paint surface is secure and clean, other than a large area of retouching in the sky at the upper left, measuring approximately 20 by 20 cm, which has discolored somewhat. The colours remain strong and the details sharp. There are traces of good quality impasto, particularly in the foliage. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals retouching along the length of the two panel joins, as well as scattered retouching in the sky, the livestock and the foliage at the far left. The work is offered in a reproduction ebonised wood frame, in excellent condition.
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This is one of only two known views of Amersfoort painted by Ruysdael. The other is a much larger and earlier canvas of 1634, formerly in the collection of Jacques Goudstikker and sold London, Christie's, 9 July 2014, lot 183 (£110,500). Although a quarter of a century separates the two views, Ruysdael has here chosen almost exactly the same viewpoint for the present painting. In the distance can be seen the two main churches of Amersfoort, the Lieve-vrouwe kerk (Church of Our Lady) and the Sint Joris kerk (Church of Saint George). The composition of both paintings is very similar, with the view opening out beyond the trees on the left towards the open countryside around Amersfoort, with a carriage and riders providing the staffage in both cases. As Ekkart observes, the tonal style favoured by Ruysdael in the 1630s has here given way to a crisper drawing style with greater contrasts in the sky.