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Key facts
Full title A River Landscape with Fishermen
Artist Salomon van Ruysdael
Artist dates 1600/3? - 1670
Date made 1631
Medium and support Oil on oak
Dimensions 36.6 × 65.5 cm
Inscription summary Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit On loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum
Inventory number L1114
Location Not on display
Image copyright On loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum
Collection Main Collection
A River Landscape with Fishermen
Salomon van Ruysdael

The painting shows one of van Ruysdael's characteristic compositions. A river bank extends diagonally across the picture plane from the lower left corner, giving the illusion of spatial recession. A boat full of people, placed parallel to the picture plane, crosses the river.

Examination by infrared reflectography has revealed extensive underdrawing in charcoal or black chalk beneath the trees, cottage and footbridge. The boat and figures were not drawn in at this stage.

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More paintings by Salomon van Ruysdael

A Landscape with a Carriage and Horsemen at a Pool
Salomon van Ruysdael
Although peaceful and still, this painting seems to hold many sounds: the rustle of leaves in a sudden breeze, the jingle of a harness and the splash of hooves in the water, quiet voices and dogs snuffling at the ground. We catch a glimpse of the patience needed to make such a journey. The women...
Not on display
A River with Fishermen drawing a Net
Salomon van Ruysdael
This is a picture of calm. The gleaming water is flat and the reflections are perfect. Even the billowing clouds seem to pause overhead to cast shadows on the river. No wind stirs the sails, no flags lift in a breeze and the men in the boat are crouched and still.The painting could be seen as pur...
Not on display
A View of Deventer seen from the North-West
Salomon van Ruysdael
Three small boats head up river, towards the rising sun. Their taut, curved sails are outlined against a cool, luminous sky as they lean with the wind. Moving clouds reveal a patch of intense blue that is reflected silvery grey on the translucent water below. Cattle wade up to their knees by the...
Room 19
A View of Rhenen seen from the West
Salomon van Ruysdael
Dawn is breaking over the town of Rhenen, but already the cows are alert, drinking in the river, and boats are moving upstream. The sweep of the clouds, the outward curve of the sails and the ripples on the water suggest a slight breeze. The Dutch flag lifts slightly on the boat closest to us. Sa...
Not on display
River Scene
Salomon van Ruysdael
The soft greys and browns of this painting reflect an effort among artists in early seventeenth-century Haarlem to experiment with how restricted use of colour could intensify the atmosphere and reality of a landscape.Van Ruysdael uses the diagonal spit of land to show distance – it narrows as it...
Not on display