Updated 07 March 2025
On Display Permanent collection
On Display
Landscape with Dune and Small Waterfall
| Materials and Techniques | oil on panel |
|---|---|
| Size（cm） | 27.5 x 35.8 |
| Inscriptions | Signed (in monogram) lower right: VR |
| Credit Line | Purchased |
| Standard ref. | Slive 620 |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1969-0002 |
One of the greatest landscape painters born in Holland during the 17th century, the young Jacob van Ruysdael was particularly fond of depicting subjects from the forests and sand dunes near his home town of Haarlem. This work is a small-scale example of this subject. The sand dune looms in a sloping angle in the front center of this image, while a river is dammed up at the bottom left of the dune, creating a small waterfall. The upper part of the slanting dune is covered with trees while the lower section is a field of grass occupied by grazing flocks of sheep and their shepherds. The sheep and figures are mere dots against the expansive landscape. The detailed depiction of light and shadow is particularly effective in the grass on the dunes and in the central trees and water, eloquently attesting to the artist's careful examination of nature. This work is not, however, simply "a fragment of nature." All of its elements are carefully calculated and placed, providing a depiction of an "arranged" nature. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 37)
Provenance
Sale, the widow Marie von Robert a. o., Cologne (Heberle), 27-29 Mar. 1893, no. 259 (wrong dimensions); Dealer Frederick Muller, Amsterdam, 1894; Julius Otto Gottschald, Leipzig, 1901, cat. no. 27; Bequeathed to the Leipzig Town Museum in 1903, cat. no. 807; Given in exchange at unknown date for an unknown work by the Leipzig Museum; De Bol, Amsterdam, 1933; Private Collection, Stockholm, until 1955; Private Collection, Paris, until 1962; Otto Wertheimer, Paris.
Exhibition History
- 1997
- Resonating Love and Life: European Art from National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Nagaoka, 12 April 1997 - 18 May 1997, cat. no. 5
Bibliography
- 1912
- Hofstede de Groot, C. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. vol. 4, London, 1912, p. 79, no. 237.
- 1924
- Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig. Leipzig, 1924, p. 158, no. 807
- 1928
- Rosenberg, Jakob. Jacob van Ruisdael. Berlin, 1928, no. 548.
- 1971
- Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 4 (1969), 1971, Yamada, Chisaburoh F. [On the New Acquisitions]. p. 5. Catalogue of the New Acquisitions. pp. 10-11. no. P-375. repr.
- 1971
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 91, repr.
- 1975
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 14, repr.
- 1978
- Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 16, repr.
- 1979
- The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 253, repr.
- 1991
- Kobayashi-Sato, Yoriko. Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Paintings in Japan II. Annual Report Bridgestone Museum of Art & Ishibashi Museum of Art. no. 38 (1989), 1991, p. 28, no. 36, repr.
- 2001
- Slive, Seymour. Jacob van Ruisdael: a Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Drawings, and Etchings. New Haven, 2001, cat. no. 620, col. repr.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 37, col. repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 37, col. repr.
- 2018
- Kofuku, Akira. Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Paintings, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. [Tokyo], The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; The Western Art Foundation, 2018, pp. 106-108, no. 30, col. repr.