River Landscape with Riders

Signed 'A. Cuijp' at the bottom center, this oil-on-canvas work is typically dated by art historians to circa 1655, though some sources suggest a broader range between 1653 and 1657. The composition derives from landscape drawings Cuyp produced along the River Waal between Nijmegen and Kleve in the early 1650s, which he later elaborated upon in his Dordrecht studio.

The painting's documented ownership begins with its sale for 380 guilders to a buyer named Coclair at the estate auction of Jacob Odon in Amsterdam. By approximately 1795, it belonged to London dealer Noel Joseph Desenfans, who likely sold it to Joseph Martin of Ham Court around 1796. It passed through the Martin family to George Edward Martin before being acquired by Baron Alfred de Rothschild. Following his death in 1918, his nephew Lionel Nathan de Rothschild inherited the work, moving it to Exbury House in Hampshire. In 1965, Lionel's son, Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, sold the piece to the Rijksmuseum for £192,500 with financial support from the Dutch State and several cultural funds.

The painting is held in the Rijksmuseum inventory number SK-A-1665. It entered the museum in 1965 as part of the acquisition from the Edmond de Rothschild collection at Exbury, Hampshire. Earlier ownership is documented in sources, including a sale by Jacob Odon at auction in Amsterdam and subsequent inheritance through the Rothschild family. The work is signed 'A. Cuijp' in the lower centre and is typically dated to around 1655. It has been exhibited as part of the Rijksmuseum's collection displays, including presentations of Dutch Golden Age landscapes.

River Landscape with Riders is a 1653 oil-on-canvas painting by Dutch artist Aelbert Cuyp, now housed in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The work shows two Dutch officers on horseback pausing by a river, a herdsman watching his cows and dog, ducks in the water, and a distant city beneath a cloudy sky; the mountainous terrain reflects the Rhine region between Nijmegen and Kleve, an area Cuyp had drawn in the early 1650s and later developed in his Dordrecht studio. The painting, signed 'A. Cuijp' at the lower center, was first recorded in an 1795 sale in Amsterdam, passed through several English owners before entering the collection of the Rothschild family, and was acquired by the Rijksmuseum in 1965 with support from the Dutch state, the Vereniging Rembrandt, the Prins Bernhard Fonds, and the Commissie voor Fotoverkoop. It is generally dated to around 1655 in scholarly literature.