View of the IJ on a Stormy Day

The IJ was Amsterdam's harbor waterway—one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world during the seventeenth century—and Van Ruisdael's stormy view of around 1662 captures the harbor in its most dramatic aspect. Marine painting was a distinct genre in the Dutch tradition, usually handled by specialists, but Van Ruisdael's harbor views bridge landscape and marine painting in a characteristic way: the weather and sky dominate over the nautical incident. The turbulent scene encodes both the power of Dutch maritime commerce and its vulnerability to natural force.

A dark, stormy sky is reflected in the choppy water below, with the harbor's shipping providing vertical accents against the horizontal drama. Van Ruisdael handles the water's surface with varied, directional brushwork that conveys the chop and swell of a storm. Vessels are observed with sufficient accuracy to distinguish their types.