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A Bleaching Ground in a Hollow by a Cottage

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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In the seventeenth century, the linen bleaching fields of Haarlem were considered to be the best in Europe. Linen was an important fabric and to fetch the highest prices its natural beige colour needed to be bleached white. The flat fields and ready water supply in the rivers and canals around Haarlem were ideal for this protracted process.

This is one of several landscapes by van Ruisdael which feature bleaching, though it gives a more enclosed view of a smaller set-up than is shown in most of his paintings. One man stands in a ditch dunking the material with a stick. Another lays it out in strips on the bank next to him, while a woman appears to be overseeing the work. That sense of enclosure – a scene tucked away in the dunes and viewed from behind a tree – gives us the feeling that we are peering into a private world.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

A Bleaching Ground in a Hollow by a Cottage

Date

probably 1645-50

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 52.5 x W 67.8 cm

Accession number

NG44

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by Sir John May, 1854

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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