Lot 16: Salomon van Ruysdael (Naarden c.1600-1670 Haarlem)

The Valkhof at Nijmegen with a ferry crossing the river Waal signed with monogram and dated 'SVR 165*' (lower left, on the side of the ferry) oil on canvas 283/4 x 403/4 in. (73 x 103.5 cm.) PROVENANCE H. L. Visser. EXHIBITION On loan to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, 1995 - 2000. NOTES Salomon van Ruysdael was born in Naarden, Gooiland. He was originally called Salomon de Gooyer, but he and his brother, Isaack, who was also an artist, adopted the name Ruysdael from castle Ruisdael (or Ruisschendaal) near their father's hometown. Salomon spelled his name Ruysdael as distinguished from his more famous nephew Jacob, who used Ruisdael. In 1623 Salomon entered the painters guild in Haarlem, and his earliest known dated painting is of 1626. As early as 1628 he was praised as a landscapist by the chronicler of Haarlem, Samuel van Ampzing. Although Salomon seems to have lived and worked in Haarlem all his life, he probably made several trips through the Netherlands, painting views of, among other places, Leiden, Utrecht, Amersfoort, Arnhem, Alkmaar, Rhenen and Dordrecht. Together with Pieter de Molijn, Salomon van Ruysdael and Jan van Goyen were the leading 'tonal' landscape painters of their generation, and they laid the foundation for the classic period of Dutch landscape painting that followed. The present lot is one of six views of a famous landmark in Holland that the artist is known to have painted, the tower or castle of Het Valkhof (falcon court), a fortress since Roman times, that was set within the walls of Nijmegen, and derived its name from the falconry established there by one of Charlemagne's sons. It was an immensely popular subject for Dutch artists in the first half of the 17th century, and was painted on numerous occasions by both Jan van Goyen and Aelbert Cuyp. Wolfgang Stechow was unaware of the present painting at the time that he wrote his monograph on Ruysdael, but he does record four other versions of the composition, three of which are executed on canvas, and one on panel (W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, Berlin, 1975, p. 79, no. 70; p. 121, no. 349A; p. 122, nos. 349B and p. 123, no.354). A fifth version of Nijmegen by Ruysdael was sold with the collection of Linda and Gerald Guterman, Sotheby's, New York, 14 January 1988, lot 33 ($900,000). Nijmegen was popularly known as the capital city of the ancient Batavians, the supposed precursors of the Dutch. Their leader, the facially disfigured Gaius Julius Civilis (known in the 17th century as Claudius Civilis), was fiercely opposed to Roman rule and set fire to his capital in order to prevent its use by the Romans. Netherlandish scholars and artists (particularly Rembrandt in his famous Oath of the Batavians in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm) became especially interested in the Batavian revolt because it was such a compelling ancient precedent for the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain. These images of the city must therefore not just have been exercises in civic pride, but representative of a national mythology and a tangible link with the classical past. The present lot is sold with a letter from Willem van der Watering dated 5 August 1980 and a photocertificate from L. J. Bol, dated 20 June 1980, both stating that the painting is by Salomon van Ruysdael.