Salomon van Ruysdael was a Dutch Golden Age

Dutch Golden Age

The Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterised by the Eighty Years' War till 1648...

 landscape painter. He was the uncle of Jacob van Ruisdael.

Biography

According to Arnold Houbraken

Arnold Houbraken

Arnold Houbraken was a Dutch painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of artists from the Dutch Golden Age. He had ten children. His son Jacobus Houbraken was an engraver of portraits and book illustrations, including books by his father...

 he was the son of a woodworker specialized in making fancy ebony

Ebony

Ebony is a dense black wood, most commonly yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but ebony may also refer to other heavy, black woods from unrelated species. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. Its fine texture, and very smooth finish when polished, make it valuable as an...

 frames for mirrors and paintings. His father sent his sons Jacob and Salomon to learn Latin and medicine, and they both became landscape painters, specialized in ruis-daal, or trickling water through a dale, after their name. Jacob was registered with the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke

Haarlem Guild of St. Luke

The Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke was first a Christian, and later a city Guild for a large number of trades falling under the patron saints Luke the Evangelist and Saint Eligius.-History:...

 and signed his paintings, while Salomon signed them much less often and was not a member for several years. Houbraken wrote that Salomon invented a way of creating sculpted ornaments that when they were polished, looked like polished marble. These were quite popular as a decoration on chests and picture frames, until the secret of their manufacture was discovered and widely copied.

Houbraken confused the members of the Ruysdael family. According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History (Dutch abbreviation, RKD), Salomon was the brother of Isaack van Ruisdael

Isaack van Ruisdael

Isaack van Ruisdael , was a Dutch Golden Age painter, brother to Salomon and the father of the landscape painter Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruisdael.-Biography:...

, who before they moved to Haarlem, were called Gooyer or Gooier and they were sons of Jacob van Gooyer the Elder, who was a furniture and frame maker in Naarden. Both sons had sons they named after their father. Thus Salomon was the uncle, not the brother of Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruisdael, and he was the father of Jacob Salomonsz. van Ruysdael

Jacob Salomonsz van Ruysdael

Jacob Salomonsz. van Ruysdael , was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter who was the son of Salomon van Ruysdael and the cousin of the more famous Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruisdael.-Biography:...

. Salomon joined the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke

Haarlem Guild of St. Luke

The Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke was first a Christian, and later a city Guild for a large number of trades falling under the patron saints Luke the Evangelist and Saint Eligius.-History:...

 in 1623 (as Salomon de Gooyer), and he became a follower of Jan Porcellis

Jan Porcellis

Jan Porcellis was a Dutch marine artist.Porcellis was born in Ghent. He was the father of the marine artist Julius Porcellis , and is generally agreed to be the more fluent artist, particularly in his sense of space and his tonal palette...

 and Esaias van de Velde

Esaias van de Velde

Esaias van de Velde was a Dutch landscape painter.-Biography:Born in Amsterdam, where his Flemish father Hans had fled as a Protestant in 1585, he probably studied under his father and Gillis van Coninxloo, a landscape painter from Antwerp and a follower of Pieter Brueghel the Elder...

. He travelled from Haarlem to Leiden, Utrecht

Utrecht

Utrecht is a city in the Netherlands.The name may also refer to:* Utrecht , of which Utrecht is the capital* Utrecht , including the city of Utrecht* Bishopric of Utrecht* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht...

, Amersfoort

Amersfoort

Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of Utrecht in central Netherlands. The city is growing quickly but has a well-preserved and protected medieval centre. Amersfoort is one of the largest railway junctions in the country, because of its location on two of the...

, Alkmaar

Alkmaar

Alkmaar is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of Noord Holland. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination.-History:...

, Rhenen

Rhenen

Rhenen is a municipality and a city in the central Netherlands.The municipality also includes the villages of Achterberg, Remmerden, Elst and Laareind. The town lies at a geographically interesting location, namely on the southernmost part of the chain of hills known as the Utrecht Hill Ridge ,...

, and Dordrecht

Dordrecht

Dordrecht , colloquially Dordt, historically in English named Dort, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the fourth largest city of the province, having a population of 118,601 in 2009...

, painting landscapes and stately homes. Of the four painters, Jacob Isaakszoon is the most famous today.

Works

Salomon was known for his landscapes and river scenes, and there are a few fish still life paintings known.

• Ferry Boat with cattle on the River Vecht near Nijenrode, 1649
• Ferry on a River, 1649
• View of Deventer Seen from the North-West, 1657

External Links

• Works and literature on PubHist
• Salomon van Ruysdael on Artnet
  Artnet
  artnet is an online service provider for the international art market with headquarters in New York, Berlin and Paris. Additionally, artnet has regional offices in China, the UK and Russia.- Business model :...