Waterfall with footbridge and pine trees
Jacob van Ruisdael·1660
Historical Context
Waterfall with Footbridge and Pine Trees from around 1660 combines mountain scenery with the human element of a footbridge. Ruisdael's northern waterfall scenes frequently include such modest bridges, providing human scale. Working from prints by Allart van Everdingen who had visited Scandinavia, Ruisdael constructed convincing cascades using fluid, energetic paint handling for the white water and dense impasto for mossy rocks. These proto-Romantic subjects prefigure the Sublime landscapes of...
Technical Analysis
The footbridge spans above the cascade, providing a compositional accent. Ruisdael's handling of water and surrounding forest creates a dynamic natural scene.
