1664
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Wooded and Hilly Landscape is a 1664 unspecified by Jacob van Ruisdael, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a dense forest on a hill, with trees leaning sideways and a narrow path winding through. A mother and child walk ahead, a dog near their feet, while another person comes out of the trees in the distance. Gray clouds fill the sky above. This painting makes nature feel powerful and alive. Ruisdael often painted Dutch countryside scenes with drama and mood. He used small figures to show how big and wild the landscape can feel. The trees are not perfectly shaped — they twist and bend like real ones battered by wind. Look next at Dutch Golden Age landscape painting.
Jacob van Ruisdael, one of the most eminent Dutch landscape painters, is revered for his brooding woodland compositions. With much of this painting's composition dedicated to nature alone, an underlying sense of sublimity is heightened by Ruisdael through the inclusion of several diminutive figures. A mother and child trudge through a weathered path in the foreground, their pet dog following closely at their side, while a lone traveler approaches from the foliage ahead of them. This work is an excellent representation of the artist's later period, speaking to both his preoccupation with…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He is generally considered the pre-eminent landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age, a period of great wealth and cultural achievement when…
See the richer artist page
