Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael

L'Abbé de Foere, Bruges;
His sale, Brussels, Le Roy, 15–16 March 1875, lot 48, for Dfl. 5,100;
With Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris;
Madame Du B. de L., Paris;
Her (deceased) sale, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 25 November 1924, lot 31;
Anonymous sale, Lucerne, Mak, 27 July 1926, lot 46;
Private collection, Switzerland.

Probably S. Slive, Jacob van Ruisdael. A complete catalogue of his Paintings, Drawings and Etchings, New Haven 2001, p. 151, under no. 135.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The oak panel has had cradling removed from the reverse and there are five inserted buttons supporting the repaired split which runs horizontally across the width of the panel approximately 14.5 cm below the upper horizontal edge. Paint surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer and appears to have been recently cleaned, restored and revarnished.Inspection under ultraviolet light shows extensive retouchings, the most significant of which are: 1) along the repaired horizontal split, 2) a thin horizontal line in the upper right corner, which is approximately 14 cm in length, and 3) extensive retouchings in the sky, which are very clear under ultraviolet light but not in natural light. 4) It is less clear how extensive the retouchings are in the foreground and in the fine details but there would appear to be a considerable amount of strengthening of the foliage and trees. There may be other retouchings beneath the varnish layers which are not identifiable under ultraviolet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in stable condition having recently been cleaned, restored and revarnished and no further work is required. The extent of retouching should be noted.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Unseen by the late Seymour Slive at the time of the compilation of his catalogue of Ruisdael's paintings and drawings published in 2001, this hitherto unrecorded painting is a welcome addition to our knowledge of the very earliest part of Ruisdael's career. Surprising though it may seem, that quintessential part of the Dutch countryside, the windmill, is a relatively rare subject in Ruisdael's œuvre. Less than a dozen paintings by his hand employ them as their principal subject, and a third of these are early works like this painting.

Ruisdael's interest in windmills seems undoubtedly to have been strongest when he was a young painter. They feature in three of the black chalk drawings found today in his Dresden sketchbook, which the young artist seems to have used for studies of the countryside in or around his home in Haarlem. They are also major motifs in two paintings which are signed and dated 1646 and which currently constitute two of his earliest dated works. These are the Landscape with a windmill ('Le Moulin flamand') in the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Village road with a windmill formerly with Galerie Sanct Lucas in Vienna and now in a private collection.¹ In each of these figures approach wooden gates set under trees at the edge of some foreground water, with one or more windmills set against the sky behind. The theme was continued by Ruisdael in a later painting of around 1650 in the Royal Collection in Buckingham Palace, and a related drawing in the British Museum.² The former was, however, by then an increasingly isolated example of this subject matter and windmills seem to have ceased as a compositional focal point for Ruisdael after this date. His last notable work in this respect, is the Windmill at Wijk bij Dursteed in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which dates from around 1670.

We are grateful to Frits Duparc for confirming the attribution to Jacob van Ruisdael (private communication). He dates this work to between 1646 and 1647 and also suggests a connection between the composition and the drawing today in the British Museum.

1. Slive 2001, p. 145, no. 127 and p. 151, no. 135, both reproduced. To judge from the description in the sale catalogue the early de Foere provenance claimed for the latter clearly applies to the present lot.

2. Slive 2001, p. 147, no. 130 and p. 555, no. D84, both reproduced.