Road through an Oak Forest by Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael

Road through an Oak Forest 1646 - 1647

0:00

painting, oil-paint

baroque

dutch-golden-age

painting

oil-paint

landscape

realism

Dimensions 65 cm (height) x 85 cm (width) (Netto), 84.5 cm (height) x 103.9 cm (width) x 4.4 cm (depth) (Brutto)

Jacob van Ruisdael painted this oak forest scene with oil on canvas, capturing a path winding through the trees. Notice the prominent oak with its broken branch, a motif resonating far beyond this Dutch landscape. The oak, throughout history, has been a symbol of strength and endurance, often linked to pagan deities. Yet, here, the broken branch introduces a melancholic note. We recall similar broken trees in classical art, symbols of mortality and the transience of life. Think of how the depiction of natural elements can evoke powerful emotional states. This motif isn't just a representation of nature, but an exploration of the human condition. The broken branch reappears throughout centuries, echoing in various forms, each time subtly shifting in meaning, connecting to our collective memory and subconscious. The cyclical progression of symbols, how they resurface, evolve, and take on new meanings in different historical contexts is present in this work.

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statensmuseumforkunst over 1 year ago

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Jacob van Ruisdael is regarded as the premier painter of landscapes within Dutch painting from the second half of the 17th century. Road through an Oak Forest is thought to have been painted at a time where Ruisdael was only 18 or 19 years of age and was about to be accepted as a master in the Guild of Painters in his home town of Haarlem. The romantic atmosphere and harmonious composition shows the influence of his uncle Salomon van Ruisdael (c. 1602-1670), who may have been his teacher. With the large-scale format and a more varied colour scheme he moved away from the "tonal" landscape painting founded by the first generation of Haarlem landscape painters as represented by e.g. Jan van Goyen (1596-1656). In Road through an Oak Forest the large, monumental oaks show the early beginnings of the idealised landscape that came to be his trademark. The half-dead tree crowns and the overgrown tree stump to the right in the picture’s foreground may be read as allusions to the brevity of life and how all things must perish.