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Low Waterfall in a Wooded Landscape with a Dead Beech Tree

c. 1660–70
(Dutch, 1628/29–1682)
Netherlands
oil on canvas
Framed: 123 x 157 x 9.5 cm (48 7/16 x 61 13/16 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 99.2 x 131 cm (39 1/16 x 51 9/16 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1967.63
Location: 213 Dutch Painting
Public Domain
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Did You Know?

Jacob van Ruisdael was inspired by trees in various states of decay, observed from nature.

Description

Jutting from a dune in the foreground, the massive silvery trunk of a dead tree leads the eye across a waterfall and toward a distant sunlit field where travelers and a dog traverse a sandy path. Partly masked by trees, a ruined building is turned gold by the sun. In Jacob van Ruisdael’s landscapes, dead trees, waterfalls, and ruined buildings were visual expressions of the passage of time. Ruisdael devoted equal attention to the cloud-filled skies looming above the land, creating dramatic patterns of light and shadow and revealing the unseen movements of the wind.
Low Waterfall in a Wooded Landscape with a Dead Beech Tree

Low Waterfall in a Wooded Landscape with a Dead Beech Tree

c. 1660–70

Jacob van Ruisdael

(Dutch, 1628/29–1682)
Netherlands

See Also

Videos

Could you cross this river?

Ruisdael's Method of Capturing Nature

Possible Symbolism in Ruisdael's Landscapes

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