Artwork Page for Landscape with a Windmill

Details / Information for Landscape with a Windmill

Landscape with a Windmill

1646

Jacob van Ruisdael

(Dutch, 1628/29–1682)
Culture
Netherlands
Medium
oil on wood
Measurements
Framed: 69 x 88.5 x 4 cm (27 3/16 x 34 13/16 x 1 9/16 in.); Unframed: 49.5 x 68.5 cm (19 1/2 x 26 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1967.19
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
213 Dutch Painting
Print
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Did You Know?

Look closely at the field across from the windmill: white linens are naturally bleached in the sun, a process that would have taken several months.

Description

Even this early work by Jacob van Ruisdael—painted while he was still a teenager—shows his unique approach to landscape that made the simplest motifs seem grand and heroic. Dark forms are massed in the foreground, creating a stark contrast to the expansive, sunlit plain at left.
A horizontally oriented oil painting depicts a moody landscape under a gray sky. In the shadowy foreground, two figures with light skin tones walk away along a path near a pool of water. On the left, thatched cottages nestle among distant greenery. To the right, a weathered wooden windmill towers over a dense grove and wooden fence. A sliver of pale light at the horizon breaks the heavy clouds filling the upper half.

Landscape with a Windmill

1646

Jacob van Ruisdael

(Dutch, 1628/29–1682)
Netherlands

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