River Landscape with a Castle on a High Cliff, Jacob van Ruisdael, 1670/1679

River landscape with a castle on a high cliff jacob van ruisdael’s landscapes are almost always pure invention. In this painting, the building on the hill resembles bentheim castle, a landmark that appears frequently in ruisdael’s work. But the artist has placed the castle in an imaginary river landscape unlike bentheim’s actual setting, and has arranged the foliage, paths, and clouds to achieve a unified decorative effect. Les paysages de jacob van ruisdael sont toujours inventés de toutes pièces. Ici, la construction sur la colline ressemble au château de bentheim, un sujet fréquent dans le travail de ruisdael. L’artiste a placé ce château dans un paysage imaginaire ne ressemblant en rien au véritable site de bentheim, et l’a entouré de feuillages, de sentiers et de nuages purement décoratifs. Object Type: painting. Genre: landscape painting. Date: 1670/1679. Dimensions: w125.6 x h101.1 cm. Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Cincinnati Art Museum. Jacob van Ruisdael - River Landscape with a Castle on a High Cliff - Google Art Project