Ruins in a Dune Landscape

The ruins have not been identified with any still standing. The atmosphere they evoke resemble the mood created in both Ruisdael's versions of his famous 'Jewish Cemetery' (Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen; Detroit Institute of Arts). The high dunes in the background recall the landscape near Haarlem, where Ruisdael was probably living in the early 1650s, which is probably when this picture was painted.