Questions to help the pupil understand the picture. What does this picture represent? How is Holland protected from the ocean? What are dikes? How are they used? What kind of a place was Holland when Caesar first entered it? What did the people do? How did they happen to build the first dike? What is the longest dike called? What would happen if the dike should give way? From what sea does it protect the people? How has the sea proved their friend? at what expense to them? Of what use are the windmills? How do they build houses in Holland? Why are the cellars full of water? Why are the houses damp? Which room is usually in the front of the house? How is the windmill in this picture built? What makes you think a storm is approaching? How does the water look? the sails? the trees? the windmill? What feeling does this picture give you—one of peace, expectancy, suspense, anxiety, or pleasure? Why is it typical of the people of Holland? Tell about the early Hollanders; the Dutch merchant and the banquet. What advice did the merchant give the Hollanders? What can you say about the composition of this picture? Of what kinds of lines is it made up? Where do you find the different kinds of lines?
The story of the artist. Jacob Van Ruysdael was born at Haarlem, Holland, in 1628. Although he was one of the greatest of the Dutch landscape painters, very little is known of his life. When he was only twelve years old he painted a picture in which he showed so much talent that his father consented to his giving up the study of medicine, for which he had been preparing. Ruysdael’s elder brother was probably his first teacher in painting. Later he went to Amsterdam to study, but his great desire was to be out in the country, where he could be alone with nature. His pictures are usually of landscapes, including a glimpse of the sea and land, with vast sky spaces overhead. In color, a rich, warm green predominates. It was always very difficult for him to draw people, so he usually had some other artist paint his figures for him.
Although his paintings are extremely valuable now, he could not sell them then, and he was so poor he was obliged at last to go to the almshouse, where he died in 1682.
People at that time were not interested in an ordinary landscape such as they saw every day. They thought Ruysdael was wasting his time painting such common things. Other artists painted pictures of people and of interesting events, real or imaginary, in brilliant colors and style. Ruysdael painted pictures in which the landscape and not the people was the center of interest. He was one of the very first artists with enough appreciation for the beauty of nature to use it as the subject for his paintings.
From what we read of Ruysdael’s life, it must have been a rather lonely one. Of a dreamy, thoughtful nature, he spent much of his time wandering alone by the seashore, among the sand dunes, and through the open country. These are the scenes he painted again and again. He loved to study the same scene in different lights, with different cloud effects, at different times and seasons; and so we find twenty pictures of a certain scene called “View of Haarlem from the Hill of Overveen.”
Few men have shown a more thorough knowledge of trees, the trunks, their branches, and the character of their leaves. In his earlier work this knowledge caused him to put too many details into his pictures, making them somewhat stiff. But he soon overcame this difficulty and began to put into his landscapes a peace and tranquility that rests the eye. But since his paintings still remained unpopular he tried a change of subjects, painting pictures of mountain scenery and rocky waterfalls.
It is generally believed that the artist Hobbema was Ruysdael’s friend and pupil. If this is true, the two must have spent many happy days together painting the quiet landscapes they loved so well. Neither of them ever traveled out of Holland.
So much alike was the work of these two artists that at one time long after their death, Hobbema’s name was removed from his paintings and that of Ruysdael placed in its stead in order to sell them. Later every effort was made to correct these errors. Some critics declared that every rocky landscape must be by Ruysdael, and every peaceful scene of cottages, high trees, and waterfalls must be by Hobbema, and so doubtless many mistakes were made. But it was not until after Ruysdael’s death that people awoke to his greatness and genius. Fabulous sums have been paid for many of his pictures and they hang in the best galleries of Europe.
Famous paintings by Ruysdael are: “Landscape with Waterfall,” “The Tempest,” “The Swamp in the Wood,” “The Jewish Cemetery,” “Landscape with Ruins,” “Shore at Scheveningen,” “Oak Wood,” and “Agitated Sea.”
Questions about the artist. Who painted this picture? Where did he live? How did he rank? Tell what you can of his life. What subjects did he usually choose for his paintings? What color usually predominates? What did he find difficult to draw? Where did he pass the last days of his life? Why could he not sell his pictures? How did they differ from those of other artists? What artist studied with him? Of what value are Ruysdael’s paintings to-day?