Beachscape with Dunes
Jacob van Ruisdael (Haarlem 1628 - Amsterdam 1682)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1677 - 1682
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
560 x 690 x 150 mm
Place of origin
Holland
Order this imageCollection
Polesden Lacey, Surrey
NT 1246494
Caption
This coastal view exemplifies Jacob van Ruisdael’s exceptional ability to create a striking composition out of an ostensibly simple and uneventful subject. Figures saunter around the tufty sand dunes and rutted roads of the seventeenth-century Dutch coastline; the only action performed with any real sense of purpose is the gentleman being carried out to a waiting rowboat on the shoulders of two men. The mundanity of these goings-on is countered by the grandeur of the cloudy sky which dominates the picture. The low horizon line and the sweep of billowing clouds create an impression of space and movement on a vast scale.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Beachscape with Dunes by Jacob van Ruisdael (Haarlem 1628 - Amsterdam 1682), 1670s. A view along the Dutch coast with high dunes to the left and a road along which an officer, two ladies and their page are walking. Figures on the beach and two men carrying a passenger in the sea towards a rowing boat moored in the middle distance; rainy sky.
Provenance
Duc de Choiseul (1719 – 1785) sale, L. F. J. Boileau, Paris, 6-10 April 1772, lot 68, with companion, bought by Boileau; Prince de Conti (1717 – 1776); his deceased sale, Paris (Remy), 8ff. April - 6 June 1777, lot 400, (2,401 francs, with companion), bought by Langlier; (Dulac et Lachaise) sale, Paris, 30ff. November 1778, lot 355, (2,299 francs,with companion); Marquis de Menars (formerly Marquis de Marigny) sale, Paris, 18 March - 6 April, 1782, lot 102, (1,851 francs, with companion), bought by Hamon; M.B. (?) of Caen sale, Paris, 3 December 1827, lot 10, (2,000 francs), bought by Delahante, who also bought the companion (lot 10); Baron Verstolk van Soelen (1776 - 1845), The Hague, by 1835 (see Smith), whose collection was sold as a whole to Thomas Baring (1799-1873), Humphrey St John Mildmay (1794 - 1853) and S. Jones-Loyd, Lord Overstone (1796 – 1883) in 1846; Henry Bingham Mildmay (1828 - 1905) sale, Christie's, 24 June 1893, lot 65, (£1,785), bought by Agnew and sold to William McEwan the same year (£1,874); The bequest of Margaret (Anderson) McEwan, The Hon. Mrs Ronald - later Dame Margaret - Henry Fulke Greville, DBE (1863-1942) from probate records linked with the donation of the property to the National Trust in 1943. This item found on the record for Polesden Lacey pictures, drawings etc., stored in the cellar, page 168.
Credit line
Polesden Lacey, The McEwan Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
JvRuisdael (JvR in monogram, signed bottom left)
Makers and roles
Jacob van Ruisdael (Haarlem 1628 - Amsterdam 1682), artist
