A Forest Marsh with Travelers on a Bank, 1651-1655
Jacob van Ruisdaelexpand_more
Etching and drypointexpand_more
Gift of funds from Barbara S. Longfellow in honor of John Skogmo and Tom Morinexpand_more 2015.50
On View in Gallery 344expand_more
Jacob van Ruisdael is among the most highly regarded landscape artists of Holland’s Golden Age. He was a prolific painter and made about a dozen etchings. In The Travelers, he wielded the etching needle with exceptional freedom and expressive force, a departure from the delicacy normally seen in the work of his forebears and contemporaries. As is evident in this brilliant impression, the light is diffuse but infinitely varied despite the simplicity of his two-bite etching technique.
Ruisdael’s treatment of the foliage animates the gnarled trees of the swampy lowland scene. Though the title seems to emphasize the human presence, it is really just a means to distinguish this plate from other landscapes, and one has to search a moment just to find the woman, two men, and dog, who skirt the water’s edge.
Details
- Title
- A Forest Marsh with Travelers on a Bank
- Artist Life
- 1628 or 1629–1682
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 2015.50
- Provenance
- Friedrich August von Sachsen (Lugt 971). Boerner sale in Leipzig in May 1933, lot no. 637. (E. H. Ariëns Kappers Masterprints, Amsterdam, Master Prints 2015, no. 19, illus.); sold to MIA, 2015.
- Catalogue Raisonne
- Bartsch 4, Dutuit 4, Hollstein 4. 3(IV)
- Curator Approved
This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.
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