Lot 134: SALOMON VAN RUYSDAEL

SALOMON VAN RUYSDAEL NAARDEN 1600/3 - 1670 HAARLEM A DUNE LANDSCAPE signed and dated lower left: S. Ruysdael 1643 oil on panel 10 3/4 by 12 3/4 in.; 27.2 by 32.5 cm.

With Pieter de Boer, Amsterdam, 1965;
Private collection, England, 1965-2002;
With David Koetser Gallery, Zurich;
From whom acquired by the present collector in March 2002.

This strikingly simple and evocative landscape dates from 1643, a period when Ruysdael was moving away from his purely "tonal phase." The coloring is still subtle and muted, though with the introduction of blue in the sky at upper left and tiny touches of red on some of the figures. Also characteristic of this period is the artist's use of gently sloping diagonals to define the composition and the shadowed area of the foreground which, contrasted against the lighter middle ground, serves as a repoussoir.