The Waterfall in front of the Wooded Slope
Jacob van Ruisdael·1670
Historical Context
The Waterfall in Front of the Wooded Slope from around 1670 at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden shows Ruisdael's late waterfall scenes with their characteristic combination of natural energy and atmospheric subtlety. 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 cascade descends before a wooded hillside, with mist rising from the impact. Ruisdael's handling of the transition between water and atmosphere creates a convincing sense of natural dynamics.
