Rolling wooded landscape with cattle on a flooded road
Jacob van Ruisdael·1660
Historical Context
Rolling Wooded Landscape with Cattle on a Flooded Road from around 1660 shows the frequent flooding that affected Dutch roads and pastures. Such scenes document the constant negotiation between water and land in the Low Countries. Ruisdael built these forest scenes from close observation of the woods near Haarlem, using layered glazes to achieve the depth of dense tree canopies. His woodland paintings influenced Hobbema directly, and later inspired the Barbizon school's plein-air forest studi...
Technical Analysis
Cattle navigate the flooded road through a rolling landscape. Ruisdael's handling of standing water reflecting the sky creates atmospheric effects within the pastoral scene.
