The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Landscape with a Church by a Torrent

c. 1670

Jacob van Ruisdael

(Dutch, 1628/29–1682)

Netherlands

oil on canvas

Framed: 100.3 x 83.8 x 10.8 cm (39 1/2 x 33 x 4 1/4 in.); Unframed: 71 x 55.2 cm (27 15/16 x 21 3/4 in.)

Bequest of Jane Taft Ingalls 1962.256

Location: not on view

Description

It is not known if Ruisdael considered his paintings to be social or moral commentary, for no documents from his lifetime indicate how the artist or his patrons interpreted the works. But in this painting dangerous rapids block access to the chapel, and severed logs litter the middleground, hinting at life’s transience and the challenge to reach salvation.

1962-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
1949-1962
Jane Taft Ingalls [1874-1962], Cleveland, OH, upon her death, held in trust by the estate Estate of Jane Taft Ingalls, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1949
(Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, NY, sold to Jane Taft Ingalls)
1946-1949
Baroness Clarice von Rothschild [1894-1967], widow of Baron Alphonse, New York, NY, sold to Rosenberg & Stiebel
1945-1946
In possession of the Allies, restituted to Clarice von Rothschild, widow of Alphonse1
1938-1945
In possession of the Nazis; selected by Hitler for the Führermuseum, Linz1
Probably 1905-1938
Baron Alphonse von Rothschild, Vienna [1878-1942], confiscated by the Nazis
1874-1905
Baron Nathaniel von Rothschild, Vienna [1836-1905], by descent to his nephew, Baron Alphonse von Rothschild
Probably 1873-1874
Baron Anselm von Rothschild [1803-1874], Vienna, by descent to his son, Baron Nathaniel von Rothschild
1873
(Rochebousseau sale, Pillet, Paris, May 5-8, 1873, no. 198, sold to Guénot)1
Until 1873
Marquis de La Rochebousseau
Provenance Footnotes
1 1After recovering the painting in the salt mines at Alt Aussee, the Allies sent it (Alt Aussee shipment no. 6512) to the Munich Central Collecting Point, where it arrived on October 22, 1945 and was assigned Munich number 11298 (USFA 11298/Aussee 6512. 10891 Aussee 6105 - 11449 Herrechiemsee 2/9. Records Relating to Property Accessions, compiled 1945 – 1949. Records Concerning the Central Collecting Points ("Ardelia Hall Collection"): Munich Central Collecting Point, 1945-1951, Record Group 260. National Archives Identifier 3725277. M1946, Roll 193, page 1. Fold3.com, http://www.fold3.com/image/312551735/, retrieved January 22, 2015). It was repatriated to Austria on July 30, 1946 and then returned to Alphonse’s widow, Clarice.
2 1This painting was seized from Alphonse von Rothschild’s collection and was initially requested by the Landesmuseum Linz. It appears as No. 4, Landschaft mit Kirche (81:64), in Album IV of Hitler’s Gemäldegalerie Linz Album, which catalogued the works intended for Hitler’s planned Linz Museum. It is also listed as seized from Alphonse's collection (inv. AR 885) in the Vorschlag zur Verteilung der in Wien beschlagnahmte Gemälde: Für das Kunstmuseum in Linz of October 20, 1939, and the Verzeichnis der für Linz in Aussicht genommenen Gemälde of July 31, 1940, both prepared by Hans Posse, special envoy for the Linz museum (Vorschlag zur Verteilung der in Wien beschlagnahmte Gemälde: Für das Kunstmuseum in Linz October 20, 1939. Linz Museum: Consolidated Interrogation Report (CIR) No. 4 (Attachments 56-82). Restitution Research Records. Records of the U.S. Occupation Headquarters, World War II, Record Group 260. National Archives Identifier 3725274. M1946, Roll 139, page 72. Fold3.com, http://www.fold3.com/image/#283755723, retrieved July 15, 2013, and Verzeichnis der für Linz in Aussicht genommenen Gemälde July 31, 1940. Linz Museum: Consolidated Interrogation Report (CIR) No. 4 (Attachments 56-82). Restitution Research Records. Records of the U.S. Occupation Headquarters, World War II, Record Group 260. National Archives Identifier 3725274. M1946, Roll 139, page 84. Fold3.com, http://www.fold3.com/image/#283755711, retrieved July 15, 2013).
3 1Additional details about Guénot are unknown, but he was likely Rothschild's agent given that the sale occurred in May of 1873 and Rothschild had the work in his possession by August of that same year, as indicated by the catalogue of the 1873 exhibition,"Ausstellung alter Gemälde aus Wiener privatbesitz," which took place in August/September. The pre-Le Roy provenance given in the Rochebousseau sale catalogue is incorrect. It is actually the provenance for van Ruisdael’s Wooded Landscape with a Waterfall and a Church on the Hill (Slive catalogue raisonné, no. 298). This provenance is as follows: Van Slengelandt [sic], 1785; Prince de Talleyrand, 1817; MM. Gray and Allnutt; Comte du Pourtalès, 1826; M. Thomas Emmerson and M. Smith. The Rochebousseau catalogue erroneously attached this provenance to CMA painting likely because the two paintings have similar descriptions.
Slive, Seymour. Jacob Van Ruisdael: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Drawings, and Etchings. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Slive, Seymour. Jacob Van Ruisdael: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Drawings, and Etchings. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Seymour Slive, letter to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 22, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
Saemy Rosenberg, letter to Jane Taft Ingalls, June 23, 1949, in CMA curatorial file.
Saemy Rosenberg, letter to Jane Taft Ingalls, June 23, 1949, in CMA curatorial file.
Seymour Slive, letter to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 22, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
Kunth, Felicitas. Die Rothschild'schen Gemäldesammlungen in Wien. Wien: Böhlau, 2006.
Schwarz, Birgit. Hitlers Museum: die Fotoalben Gemäldegalerie Linz : Dokumente zum "Führermuseum". Wien: Böhlau, 2004.

Lillie, Sophie. Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens. Wien: Czernin, 2003.
Schwarz, Birgit. Hitlers Museum: die Fotoalben Gemäldegalerie Linz : Dokumente zum "Führermuseum". Wien: Böhlau, 2004.
Kunth, Felicitas. Die Rothschild'schen Gemäldesammlungen in Wien. Wien: Böhlau, 2006.
Datenbank zum Central Collecting Point München, Deutsches Historisches Museum, accessed 2013, http://www.dhm.de/datenbank/ccp/dhm_ccp.php?seite=6&fld_1=11298&fld_3=&auswahl=6&fld_4=&fld_4a=&fld_5=&fld_6=&fld_7=&fld_8=&fld_9=&fld_10=&suchen=Suchen
inzer Sammlung – Datenbank, Deutsches Historisches Museum, accessed 2013, http://www.dhm.de/datenbank/linzdb/indexe.html.
Seymour Slive, letter to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 22, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
Saemy Rosenberg, letter to Jane Taft Ingalls, June 23, 1949, in CMA curatorial file.
Lillie, Sophie. Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens. Wien: Czernin, 2003.
Schwarz, Birgit. Hitlers Museum: die Fotoalben Gemäldegalerie Linz : Dokumente zum "Führermuseum". Wien: Böhlau, 2004.

Kunth, Felicitas. Die Rothschild'schen Gemäldesammlungen in Wien. Wien: Böhlau, 2006.

Linzer Sammlung – Datenbank, Deutsches Historisches Museum, accessed 2013, http://www.dhm.de/datenbank/linzdb/indexe.html.
Datenbank zum Central Collecting Point München, Deutsches Historisches Museum, accessed 2013, http://www.dhm.de/datenbank/ccp/dhm_ccp.php?seite=6&fld_1=11298&fld_3=&auswahl=6&fld_4=&fld_4a=&fld_5=&fld_6=&fld_7=&fld_8=&fld_9=&fld_10=&suchen=Suchen
Slive, Seymour. Jacob Van Ruisdael: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Drawings, and Etchings. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Kunth, Felicitas. Die Rothschild'schen Gemäldesammlungen in Wien. Wien: Böhlau, 2006.

Schwarz, Birgit. Hitlers Museum: die Fotoalben Gemäldegalerie Linz : Dokumente zum "Führermuseum". Wien: Böhlau, 2004.
Lillie, Sophie. Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens. Wien: Czernin, 2003.

Saemy Rosenberg, letter to Jane Taft Ingalls, June 23, 1949, in CMA curatorial file.
Seymour Slive, letter to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 22, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
Linzer Sammlung – Datenbank, Deutsches Historisches Museum, accessed 2013, http://www.dhm.de/datenbank/linzdb/indexe.
Datenbank zum Central Collecting Point München, Deutsches Historisches Museum, accessed 2013, http://www.dhm.de/datenbank/ccp/dhm_ccp.php?seite=6&fld_1=11298&fld_3=&auswahl=6&fld_4=&fld_4a=&fld_5=&fld_6=&fld_7=&fld_8=&fld_9=&fld_10=&suchen=Suc
Saemy Rosenberg, letter to Jane Taft Ingalls, June 23, 1949, in CMA curatorial file.
Seymour Slive, letter to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 22, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
Slive, Seymour. Jacob Van Ruisdael: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Drawings, and Etchings. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Slive, Seymour. Jacob Van Ruisdael: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Drawings, and Etchings. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Kunth, Felicitas. Die Rothschild'schen Gemäldesammlungen in Wien. Wien: Böhlau, 2006.
Katalog der Gemälde alter Meister aus dem Wiener Privatbesitze, ausgestellt im k.k.Österreichischen Museum August-September 1873. Wien: K.K. Osterreichischen Museum, 1873.
Seymour Slive, letter to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 22, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.

Saemy Rosenberg, letter to Jane Taft Ingalls, June 23, 1949, in CMA curatorial file.
Slive, Seymour. Jacob Van Ruisdael: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Drawings, and Etchings. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Durand-Ruel, Paul, Eug Féral, and Ch Pillet. Catalogue de tableaux de premier ordre anciens & modernes composant la Galerie de M. le Marquis de La Rocheb.: b dont la vente aura lieu, Boulevard des Italiens no 26, les 5, 6, 7 et 8 mai 1873, a deux heures. 1873.
Seymour Slive, letter to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 22, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 264; Mentioned: p. 263
Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10-September 2, 1973).
CMA, 1973: "Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century," no catalogue.
Vienna, Oesterreichisches museum für kunst und Industrie, 1873: "Ausstellung alter Gemälde aus Wiener privtbesitz," cat. no. 122.
CMA, November 1962: "Year in Review," cat., Bull., (Nov. 1962), cat. no. 96, repr. p. 212.
Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962).
{{cite web|title=Landscape with a Church by a Torrent |url=false|author=Jacob van Ruisdael|year=c. 1670|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.256