SALOMON VAN RUYSDAEL (Naarden c. 1600-1670 Haarlem) River landscape with a ferry. 1649. Oil on wood. Signed and dated lower centre: S. VRuysdael. 1649. 60.4 × 90.8 cm. Provenance: - Collection Frederick Arthur Heygate Lambert (1857-1929), before 1926. - Auction Sotheby's, London, Heygate Lambert Collection, 21.4.1926, lot 66. - Douwes art dealers, Amsterdam, 1926. - Collection Dr Heilgendorff, Berlin, 1938. - Heinz Kuckei Collection, Berlin. - By succession, European private collection. Literature: Wolfgang Stechow: Salomon van Ruysdael, Berlin 1975, p. 124, no. 360. The painting offered here is a characteristic example of Ruysdael's style in the late 1640s. In 1649 in particular, the river landscape in Ruysdael's oeuvre reached "its classical height and perfection", as Stechow writes. In this mature work, the calmness of the composition and colourfulness takes the place of the dynamic depth effect that still dominated in the painter's early paintings before 1643. According to Stechow, "the green of the trees is once again claiming its rightful place", the contours are veiled in the light haze on the horizon, the various parts of the landscape together with the boats and pedestrians on the riverbank become a single entity. The paintings from this creative phase were mostly created in the artist's studio and are therefore not topographical depictions of nature, but combine characteristic elements of Dutch landscape painting to create an ideal reality. Comparable compositions can be found in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (inv. no. SK-C-1698) and the Städel Museum in Frankfurt (inv. no. 100), among others. Together with Esaias van de Velde (1587-1630), Pieter de Molyn (1595-1661) and Jan van Goyen (1596-1656), Salomon van Ruysdael was one of the founders of early naturalistic Dutch landscape painting and one of the most important Dutch landscape painters of the 17th century. He lived as a wealthy citizen in Haarlem until his death. His landscapes depict a calm, tranquil world which, in their perfection, symbolise the harmony of creation, as is particularly evident in the painting offered here. This object marked with * (asterisk) is fully subject to VAT, i.e. VAT will be charged on the hammer price plus buyer's premium for these objects. Buyers who present a legally stamped export declaration will be reimbursed the VAT.