Dune Landscape near Haarlem
This landscape, showing a hunter and his dogs climbing a dune on the right, primarily focuses on the great tree in the center of the frame. Its thick volume sways to the left, drawing our attention to the skyline of Haarlem in the distance. To the right of the tree, the sunlit road curves toward the horizon and draws our gaze upward to the cumulus clouds whose billowing and energetic shapes echo the two trees' dense foliage. A feeling of great energy results as, simultaneously, the figurative element of the hunter and his dogs conveys a feeling of ordinary life in harmony with nature as they trek toward the farmhouse glimpsed at the end of the curving road.
With its strong sense of composition, this work exemplified Ruisdael's classical phase. His innovative technique involved applying paint thickly in order to build up layers of light and shadow to create a sense of depth and profusion of vegetation. At the same time, he employed scientific observation, depicting botanically identifiable trees, leading art historian Kenneth Clark to describe him as "the greatest master of the natural vision before Constable."
Prolific, van Ruisdael worked in almost all of the genres of Dutch Golden Age landscape painting. He helped pioneer distinct motifs such as the depiction of water mills. He was influential upon artists of his own time and his work had a noted impact on the Barbizon School and the Hudson River School. Artists Thomas Gainsborough, J.M.W. Turner, and John Constable all studied and copied his landscapes. He also impacted the Impressionists including Monet and the Post-Impressionist Vincent van Gogh.
