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Your galleryLandscape with the Ruins of the Castle of Egmond
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Look at the broken brick tower against the storm clouds, then down at its reflection in the still water.
The Castle of Egmond had been destroyed more than eight decades earlier, in the Dutch revolt against Spain, and its ruins recalled the country’s fight for independence. Dutch landscape painters often chose such sites, along with windmills and city views, to celebrate the young republic. Ruisdael added drama with a low horizon and swelling clouds, and worked on an unusually large scale.
Oil on canvas · 98 × 130 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Dutch Golden Age
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Landscape with the Ruins of the Castle of Egmond
- Artist
- Jacob van Ruisdael (Dutch, 1628/29-1682)
- Date
- 1650–55
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 98 × 130 cm (38 7/8 × 51 3/8 in.); Framed: 101 × 131.5 × 8.6 cm (39 3/4 × 51 3/4 × 3 3/8 in.)
- Credit line
- Potter Palmer Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.