Jacob van Ruisdael (
c. 1629 – 1682) was a prolific and versatile Dutch artist, generally considered the pre-eminent
landscape painter of the
Dutch Golden Age. During this period of great wealth and cultural achievement when
Dutch painting became highly popular,
his father and
uncle were also landscape artists. His earliest works, dating from 1646, show remarkable quality for his age. He moved from his
Haarlem birthplace to
Amsterdam around 1657, where he lived until his death. Ruisdael painted a wide variety of landscape subjects, including Dutch countryside scenes, city panoramas, seascapes, and Scandinavian waterfalls. The sky often takes up two thirds of the canvas. His accurate rendering of trees was unprecedented, and he is particularly known for his paintings of mills, such as Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede(pictured). Ruisdael shaped landscape painting traditions worldwide, influencing the English
Romantics, the French
Barbizon School, and the American
Hudson River School, as well as generations of Dutch landscape artists. The
National Gallery, the
Rijksmuseum, and the
Hermitage Museum hold the largest collections of his paintings. (
Full article...)
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