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This is undoubtedly Ruisdael’s finest and most ambitious landscape before he left Haarlem for his trip to Cleves and Bentheim in Germany in 1650. Individual motifs from Cornelis Vroom can be identified, but the scale and complexity of this work are far greater than Ruisdael’s teacher Vroom ever attempted. Reminiscences of Vroom can be found in the poetic mood as well as in the refined airy treatment of the foliage of the half-bare, split beech and in the elegant trees in the distant vista. Transcending Vroom are the tremendous scale of the landscape, the heroic treatment of the commanding group of trees against the towering sky and the grouping of a great wealth of motifs into powerful rhythms, all of which show Ruisdael’s growing desire for monumental effect.
Title
The Banks of a River
Date
1649
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 134 x W 193 cm
Accession number
EU0734
Acquisition method
bequeathed as part of the Torrie Collection, 1836; on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland
Work type
Painting
Inscription description
1649