Dutch Baroque Era Painter, ca.1628-1682 Ruysdael's favorite subjects are simple woodland scenes, similar to those of Everdingen and Hobbema. He is especially noted as a painter of trees, and his rendering of foliage, particularly of oak leaf age, is characterized by the greatest spirit and precision. His views of distant cities, such as that of Haarlem in the possession of the marquess of Bute, and that of Katwijk in the Glasgow Corporation Galleries, clearly indicate the influence of Rembrandt. He frequently painted coast-scenes and sea-pieces, but it is in his rendering of lonely forest glades that we find him at his best. The subjects of certain of his mountain scenes seem to be taken from Norway, and have led to the supposition that he had traveled in that country. We have, however, no record of such a journey, and the works in question are probably merely adaptations from the landscapes of Van Everdingen, whose manner he copied at one period. Only a single architectural subject from his brush is known--an admirable interior of the New Church, Amsterdam. The prevailing hue of his landscapes is a full rich green, which, however, has darkened with time, while a clear grey tone is characteristic of his seapieces. The art of Ruysdael, while it shows little of the scientific knowledge of later landscapists, is sensitive and poetic in sentiment, and direct and skillful in technique. Figures are sparingly introduced into his compositions, and such as occur are believed to be from the pencils of Adriaen van de Velde, Philip Wouwerman, and Jan Lingelbach. Unlike the other great Dutch landscape painters, Ruysdael did not aim at a pictorial record of particular scenes, but he carefully thought out and arranged his compositions, introducing into them an infinite variety of subtle contrasts in the formation of the clouds, the plants and tree forms, and the play of light. He particularly excelled in the painting of cloudscapes which are spanned dome-like over the landscape, and determine the light and shade of the objects. Goethe lauded him as a poet among painters, and his work shows some of the sensibilities the Romantics would later celebrate.  Related Paintings of Jacob van Ruisdael :. | Landscape with a footbridge | Hilly Landscape with a great oak and a Grainfield | Windmill by a Stream (mk25) | Wooded river bank | Landscape with the Ruins of Egmond Castle at Egmond aan den Hoef |
Related Artists:
Dirck van Delen
1604-1671 Dutch Dirck van Delen Location Dutch painter. When he married in 1625 he was a citizen of Middelburg, but he settled in nearby Arnemuiden, where he became master of the toll-house. From 1628 until his death he was almost continually a member of the town council, mostly as burgomaster. He was widowed three times and had at least one son, though no children survived him. The inventory of his estate testifies that he was well-to-do.
Anna Maria Ehrenstrahl
1666-1729,as married Wattrang, (1666-1729), was Swedish painter, the first female painter in her country. She was a baroque-artist and painted allegorys, portraits and group portraits in the style of the Baroque. Born as child of the court painter David Klocker Ehrenstrahl and Maria Momma, she was instructed as a student by her father to copy and finish his works and to paint details and other such smaller things to complete the paintings in his studio. She is confirmed as her fathers assistant from ca 1680. Her learning as an artist was therefore not complete, as he never intended her to become an independent artist, just as a form of artistic secretary in his studio, but she was in fact to create paintings herself eventually. In 1688 she married Johan Wattrang, vice president in Svea Hovratt, and painted six portraits of this courts former presidents, which she gave the court signed with her own name (1717). Her way of painting was in the same barocque style as her father; she painted allergorys and portraits of both single people and groups, bot real people and mytholocigal figures in the style of the time. Among them was portraits of king Charles XI of Sweden, Prince Ulrik (in 1685), an allegory over the four seasons (1687) and an allegory of Cupid and Psyche. She painted the four king's under her lifetime, the Princes Gustaf and Fredrik, Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark and Aurora Konigsmarck.
Georg Friedrich Kersting
1785-1847 German Georg Friedrich Kersting Gallery Kersting was a friend of Caspar David Friedrich, the leading German Romantic painter; his style was influenced by Friedrich, and he shared that artist's romantic attitude, although in a more subjective manner. The two friends went on a walking tour of the Riesengebirge in 1810. During his many hikes with Friedrich, the two painted numerous sketches and observations from nature. He may have painted the staffage in some of Friedrich's early work??such as Morning in the Riesengebirge (1810?C11), a result of their walking tour. He was also a friend of the painter Louise Seidler, who described him as "an altogether splendid and comical fellow" and often served as his model. In 1813 Seidler helped Kersting send a number of his works to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe was impressed and recommended that the Grand Duke Charles Augustus purchase his work The Embroiderer. Kersting's most lasting works are his figures in interiors that borrow from seventeenth-century Dutch genre painting. These paintings nevertheless feel contemporary due to the situations depicted and the effect of the artist's personality. The characters are often viewed from the back, as in Friedrich's work, and the scenes provide hints of narrative as the figures engage privately in everyday activities. A number of his works refer to his time in the volunteer corps, the "L??tzow rangers". He drew a full-length self-portrait in 1813, in which he wore the rangers' uniform. The painting On Sentry Duty (1815) depicts three rangers, including the artist Ferdinand Hartmann and the writer Theodor Körner, who fought with Kersting and died in wars against the French.