SALOMON VAN RUYSDAEL (1600/03–1670)

Oil on oak panel. The painting bears the remains of a monogram and dating in the lower left corner: S.V. 162. Expert Analysis: Prof. Dr. Claus Grimm, Munich. Flemish artist Salomon van Ruysdael was a member of the Brotherhood of St. Luke in Haarlem and from 1648 also its chairman. He was greatly influenced by the work of Jan van Goyen, whose work from the 1630s is quite similar, but used a more varied color palette. Van Ruysdael loved to paint the Dutch countryside, canals, and fishing boats. This painting depicts a scenic countryside with a farm ringed by a decayed fence and a shepherd with a herd of cows on a field path. To his left are two figures of peasants with two pigs. In the background we see the rough sea under a blue-gray sky.