View of Alkmaar

View of Alkmaar from 1672 at Upton House shows the Dutch city across its surrounding flat landscape. Ruisdael's city panoramas served as both topographical records and expressions of civic pride in the Dutch Republic's prosperous towns. Ruisdael's panoramic compositions employ a dramatically low horizon that surrenders three-quarters of the canvas to sky, creating the luminous cloud-filled atmosphere characteristic of Dutch Golden Age landscape. These works were widely copied and engraved, sp...

The city's church towers punctuate the flat horizon beneath a dramatic sky. Ruisdael's atmospheric perspective creates convincing distance between the viewer and the distant architecture.