Art-Van Ruisdael-Landscape with Waterfall TB02

Travel bugs seem to regularly disappear from urban caches and at caching events.  Please drop this item in rural or Premium Member Only caches.  Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts—the chain and tag won't tangle with other items.  Otherwise, take it everywhere.

This is one of a series of travel bugs made to recognize art admired by the bug owner.  A digital copy of this painting was downloaded from the internet. The copy was reduced in size and proportions cropped to accommodate the laminating materials available to the owner. Regrettably these processes diminish the effort of the artist. One truly must see the original in person to fully appreciate the work. The text below is a mixture of my own observations and material gleaned from the internet (mostly Wikipedia and Web Gallery).

Jacob Isaackszon van Ruisdael (1628-1682) was a painter during the Dutch Golden Age, the 17th century. Prior to this time most patrons of the arts were the church and royalty who largely wanted portraits and paintings with religious or allegorical themes. After the Renaissance, northern Europe became a center of commerce and the middle classes prospered to the point that they wanted art to decorate their homes. And, they had broader tastes is subject matter than institutional patrons. To satisfy the demand, the Dutch and Flemish regions developed an amazing number of artists. Portraiture and religious topics were still important, but landscape, seascape, cityscape, still life and commemorative paintings began to appear.

Van Ruisdael's favorite subjects are simple woodland scenes, many of which have mills or waterfalls. He is especially noted as a painter of trees, and his rendering of foliage, particularly of oak leaf age, is characterized by the greatest spirit and precision. This painting hangs in the Wallace Collection, London.  This is one of Ruisdael grandest landscapes and is on the top of my list of art yet to be seen.  One of the things that attracted me to the Dutch landscape and seascape painters is their dramatic treatment of clouds. Perhaps this was out of necessity since Holland is such a flat country. van Ruisdael took license with his expression of topography, but not to the extent of those Dutch painters who had studied landscapes in Italy.