BE 40
SALOMON VAN RUYSDAEL
Naarden 1600/03 – 1670 Haarlem
A river landscape with fishermen setting out their nets and a ferry beyond
Signed and dated lower centre: SVRUYSDAEL 1644
Canvas: 36 x 48 ¾ in / 91.5 x 123.5 cm
Provenance:
Jean, Comte de Sellon d’Allaman (1736-1810), Château d’Allaman, Pays de Vaud, Switzerland, by 1795;
his son Jean-Jacques de Sellon (1782-1839);
by descent to a Swiss private collector
Literature:
Catalogue Raisonné des 215 Tableaux les plus capitaux du Cabinet de Monsieur le Comte de Sellon d’Allaman, dont une partie se voit dans son hôtel à Genève, et l’autre dans son château d’Allaman en Suisse pays de Vaud, Geneva 1795, p.54, no.148 (‘Ruysdael (Salomon), le bord de la mer, sur lequel on voit des établissments de pêche; plusieurs bateaux des pêcheurs, et des groupes d’arbres peu feuillés. Ce tableau, fidèle image de la nature hollandoise, est composé avec gout, et a un ton de couleur argentin. C’est un des plus capitaux de ce maître’)
Catalogue complet de la galerie de tableaux du Comte de Sellon. 578 nos. Catalogue de tableaux appartenant à Monsieur le Comte de Sellon à Genève, Geneva 1798, p.35, no.1 (‘catalogue des tableaux perdus dans les différents appartements du château, à Allaman, no.1 Ruysdael, Salomon, peint sur toile, haut 2 pieds 21 pouces large, 3 pieds. Vue d’une eau, divers bateaux pêcheurs. Ce tableau très capital est d’une belle execution’)
Salomon van Ruysdael was one of the originators of naturalistic Dutch landscape painting. Together with Jan van Goyen (1596 – 1656), he invented “tonalist” landscapes, images which for the first time depicted native Dutch scenery in a seemingly realistic manner, with diagonal compositions, a restricted palette of earth tones, and a unifying envelope of atmosphere, all orchestrated with subtle lighting effects. The results were highly naturalistic images of the local scenery, whether a canal, river, dunescape, or roadside inn. Ruysdael’s landscapes celebrate Holland’s watery, flat, and loamy countryside and often feature overcast or windswept prospects, suggesting the country’s changeable weather. Further, they express with an understatement perfectly suited to the local geography and climate, the people’s love of their own land and the pride of a newly independent nation. The present work is a classic example of Ruysdael’s paintings of this type.
Salomon was born in Naarden in Gooiland. He was initially called Salomon de Go(o)yer but he and his brother Isack (1599 – 1677), who also was an artist, adopted the name Ruysdael, possibly from Castle Ruisdael, near their father’s home town. We note that their spelling of the name was different that that of Salomon’s nephew and Isack’s son, Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29 – 1682), who became the most famous and versatile of all Dutch landscapists. Salmon entered the painting guild in Haarlem in 1623 and seems to have lived and worked in Haarlem his entire life, although his paintings prove that he travelled throughout the Netherlands, depicting among other places, Leiden, Utrecht, Amersfoort, Arnhem, Alkmaar, Rhenen, and Dordrecht. Salomon’s earliest dated work is of 1626 and he was already praised in print by the chronicler of Haarlem, Samuel van Ampzing, in 1628. His teacher is unknown but his early works of 1626 – 29 closely resemble those of Esaias van de Velde (1587 – 1630), who worked in Haarlem from 1609 to 1618. His early works also reveal many parallels with the paintings of Jan van Goyen, and to a lesser extent with the art of Pieter de Molijn (1595 – 1661) and Pieter van Santvoort (1604/05 – 1635). Like many Dutch artists, Salomon had a second career as a merchant and dealt in blue dye for Haarlem’s bleacheries. In addition to landscapes, he painted a handful of still lifes in his later years. Salomon was buried in Saint Bavo’s Church in Haarlem on 3rd November 1670.
The present work is a highly characteristic and quite ambitiously conceived large work by the master that depicts a placid river receding diagonally from left to right, with tall trees ascending on the river bank, fishing vessels and a ferry boat on the still waters, and a towering windswept sky overhead. The hour appears to be dawn. The fishermen in their small rowing boats set out their arcing nets upon the water, while farther downstream an overbooked ferry boat poles away from shore, and a few sailing boats set their canvases to catch the first winds of the morning. The sparse foliage and the silver underbellies of the leaves suggest a spring day. Cottages are nestled among the foliage on the bank, but this is a quiet rural place; the turrets of a busier world of wealth and power are only visible in the distance on the horizon. We admire how thoughtfully Ruysdael creates his design, complementing the diagonal thrust of the river’s retreat with a descending diagonal of striated clouds overhead, while punctuating and moderating the movement into depth with a graceful series of vertical accents silhouetted against the sky. Other small details also play a vital role: the floating barrel and staves in the immediate right foreground that serve as repoussoirs enhancing relief, and the single darkened mast of the sailing boat in the right middle distance that functions as a signpost in the painting’s recession. The still water, dark green in the foreground, surrendering to slate gray, and lightening at the horizon enhances the sense of depth. Even the ducks and water birds play their part in this carefully orchestrated design.
While the painting is fully signed, dated and typical of Salomon in all its details, it was unknown to Wolgang Stechow, who wrote the still invaluable monograph on the artist (Salomon van Ruysdael. Eine Einführung in seine Kunst, mit kritischem Katalog der Gemälde) in 1938 (revised ed., Berlin 1975). All the essentials of the painting’s design are already posited in Salomon’s River Landscape of 1632 in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg (see Stechow 1938/1975, cat. no. 498, fig. 11) – the wedge of diagonally receding bank with its complementary reflection in the water, the still river and soaring sky, the small vessels punctuating the space, even the floating barrel in the foreground. Solomon’s genius lay in the fact that while he constantly varied a repertoire of favoured designs, he never succumbed to repetition or even revealed a formulaic bias; his designs appear perennially fresh and new, invariably plausible and naturalistic. Nonetheless we surmise from his constant variations on themes and designs - ringing the changes, as it were, on his compositions - that it is likely that virtually all of his paintings, even those including identifiable monuments, were artistically manipulated for expressive effect back in the studio. No doubt Salomon made drawings from which he worked, but sadly none of these have come down to us, a fact that is all the more remarkable when one considers the vast graphic oeuvre of Jan van Goyen.
The present painting is one of no less than twenty-six paintings that Salomon dated in 1644 when he was at the height of his powers (see Stechow 1938/75, cat nos. 139, 149, 150 – 52, 191, 239, 342 – 347, 452A, 453, 453A, 453B, 454, 455, 508, 508A, 509, 509A, 510, 576). In this year he depicted a wide variety of subjects, from market scenes, to his favored Halt before the inn theme, dune landscapes, the ruins of Egmont Abbey and a view of Alkmaar with the Sint Laurenskerk; but far and away the largest group of paintings during this period were river landscapes, always with placid, never stormy waters, and often in these years with fishermen. This was the era of his mature ‘tonalist’ phase but he would shortly move to a greater emphasis on structure and colour that would usher in the ‘classical’ period of landscape painting. Among Salomon’s river landscapes of 1644 that may be compared to the present work there are several paintings in museums, including those in Budapest, Kansas City, the Louvre, Paris, Cleveland and Copenhagen (Stechow 1938/75, nos. 344 – 353). One that is particularly comparable in design and theme is the painting formerly in the Henle Collection, Duisberg (sale London, Sotheby’s, 3rd December 1997, lot 11; see also Stechow 1938/75, no. 508A, fig. 24), which still holds the record for a painting by Salomon sold at public auction (₤2,311,500).
As we have mentioned, the painting remained virtually unknown until recently. It came from the celebrated collection of Old Master paintings formed at the end of the eighteenth century by Jean de Sellon (1736 – 1810), and which was augmented in the nineteenth century by his son, Jean-Jacques de Sellon (1782 – 1839). Together with the famous collection of François Tronchin (1704 – 1798), that of the Sellon family was one of the most important Swiss collections of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Many Sellon paintings now hang in the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva. The collection was originally housed in the family’s home in Geneva and in their country residence, the Château d’Allaman, on the shores of Lake Geneva, to the west of Lausanne. Built as a Savoyard fortress, it was converted by the Marquise de Langalerie in the early eighteenth century into a hospitable castle. Upon her demise, the castle was purchased in 1755 by the Genevois banker, Jean-Gaspard [de] Sellon. It was his son, Jean de Sellon, who assembled the collection, which was distinguished for its Italian paintings, mostly acquired during a sojourn in Italy between 1789 and 1794. He evidently collected at a prodigious rate, since the catalogue initially compiled in 1793 soon after he returned to Geneva, already includes a selection of the best 215 paintings, of which 160 were Italian. The collection ultimately comprised no fewer than 578 paintings. After Jean de Sellon’s death, the collection was continued by his son Jean-Jacques de Sellon, who was one of the most important jurists in Swiss history, fighting vigorously against capital punishment and slavery, and founding the Société de la Paix in 1830. An admirer of Napoleon I, he entertained members of the Bonaparte family in his residences and was a frequenter of Madame de Staël’s salon. Like his father, he also was a keen collector of what was then contemporary Swiss painting, especially landscapes.
Peter Sutton
SALOMON VAN RUYSDAEL
Naarden 1600/03 – 1670 Haarlem
Salomon Jacobsz van Ruysdael was born in Naarden in Gooiland. He was originally called Salomon de Goyer (Gooyer), but he and his brother Isaack adopted the name Ruysdael, probably from Castle Ruisdael (Ruisschendael), near their father’s hometown. Salomon spelled his name Ruysdael (or occasionally Ruyesdael), as distinguished from his nephew, the painter Jacob van Ruisdael (Haarlem 1628/29 – 1682 Amsterdam). In 1623 Salomon joined the Guild in Haarlem and was an officer in 1647 and 1669. His earliest dated paintings are of 1626, and he was praised as an artist as early as 1628 by the chronicler of Haarlem, Samuel van Ampzing. Salomon also had a career as a merchant, dealing in blue dye for Haarlem’s bleacheries. His wife, Mayken Buysse, was buried in St Bavo’s church in Haarlem in December 1660. As a Mennonite he could not bear arms, but contributed to the civic guard. He seems to have lived his entire adult life in Haarlem but made trips recorded in his paintings to Leiden, Utrecht, Amersfoort, Arnhem, Alkmaar, Rhenen and Dordrecht. Salomon was buried in St Bavo’s on 3rd November 1670.
Although Salomon’s teacher is unknown, his paintings prior to c.1630 closely resemble those of Esaias van de Velde, who worked in Haarlem from 1609 to 1618. In addition to Van de Velde’s influence, these early works reveal many parallels with Jan van Goyen’s art. Together with Pieter Molijn, Salomon van Ruysdael and Jan van Goyen were the leading ‘tonalist’ landscapists. They laid the groundwork for the great ‘classical’ period of Dutch landscape painting that followed. In addition to landscapes, numerous river views and seascapes, Salomon painted a few still lifes in his later years. Although he must have been active as a draughtsman and underdrawing is visible in his paintings, none of his drawings have survived. Salomon was the father of Jacob Salomonsz. van Ruysdael (c.1629/30-1681), who was also a painter.
The work of Salomon van Ruysdael is represented in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; the National Gallery, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.