Jacob van Ruisdael, 'A Landscape with a Ruined Castle and a Church', about 1665-70
About the work
Overview
This, one of van Ruisdael’s most famous paintings, is a bigger version of his An Extensive Landscape with Ruins, also in the National Gallery’s collection. This sizeable picture was almost certainly painted on commission and was designed to hang in a very large room. Its size is matched by the sense of grandeur van Ruisdael has managed to create.
Although it is reminiscent of the countryside around Haarlem, where van Ruisdael grew up and trained as an artist, no one has been able to identify the main church or an exact location for the panorama. Most likely it was an idealised view, evoking and reflecting ideas that van Ruisdael and his customers had about how Holland should look. The productive nature of the landscape is represented by the shepherds, the corn and the windmill; a sense of history by the ruined castle. The church that dominates the horizon stood, in their eyes, for eternal certainty.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Landscape with a Ruined Castle and a Church
- Artist
- Jacob van Ruisdael
- Artist dates
- 1628/9? - 1682
- Date made
- about 1665-70
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 109 × 146 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed
- Acquisition credit
- Wynn Ellis Bequest, 1876
- Inventory number
- NG990
- Location
- Room 23
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
- Frame
- 17th-century Dutch Frame
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2020Masterpieces from the National Gallery, LondonThe National Museum of Western Art18 June 2020 - 18 October 2020The National Museum of Art3 November 2020 - 31 January 2021
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2021Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, LondonNational Gallery of Australia5 March 2021 - 14 June 2021
Bibliography
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1800P. van der Schley, Catalogue du cabinet de tableaux: Delaissés par l'amateur des beaux arts Jean Gildemeester, Amsterdam, 11 June 1800 - 13 June 1800
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1830
J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
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1838G.F. Waagen, Works of Art and Artists in England, trans. H. Lloyd, vol. 2, London 1838
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1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
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1907C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
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1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
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1981S. Slive and H.R. Hoetink, Jacob van Ruisdael (exh. cat. Mauritshuis, 1 October 1981 - 3 January 1982; Fogg Art Museum, 18 January 1982 - 11 April 1982), New York 1981
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1983C. Brown, 'Rubens' Watering Place: An Examination of His Landscape Technique', Ringling Museum of Art Journal, 1983, pp. 130-49
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1990I. Gaskell, National Gallery Master Paintings from the Collection of Wynn Ellis of Whitstable, London 1990
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1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
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1993E. Buijsen et al., Tussen fantasie en werkelijkheid: 17de eeuwse Hollandse landschapschilderkunst (exh. cat. Tokyo Station Gallery, 1 August - 27 September 1992; Kasama Nichido Museum of Art, 10 October - 20 December 1992; Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art, 5 January - 21 February 1993; Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, 20 March - 20 June 1993), Baarn 1993
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
Frame
This is a seventeenth-century Dutch scotia frame made of ebonised fruitwood, which would have been a more economical alternative to ebony. The cushion top moulding overhangs the wide scotia and ends with a chamfer sight moulding.
This frame was adapted to fit Ruisdael’s A Landscape with a Ruined Castle and a Church in 2025.
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.