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Your galleryCastle on a River
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Follow the rowing boat in the foreground across the still water to the castle and its long reflection, then find the swans near the far bank.
The castle is a free version of Loevestein, which the Cleveland Museum of Art describes as both a fortress and the official prison of the Dutch state. Ruysdael painted it in 1644, four years before the Dutch won their independence from Spain, and the museum suggests it spoke to its owner’s pride in the nation. Salomon van Ruysdael was the uncle of Jacob van Ruisdael, the family’s most famous painter.
oil on wood · Framed: 57 x 79 x 5.5 cm · Cleveland Museum of Art · Dutch Golden Age
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Castle on a River
- Artist
- Salomon van Ruysdael (Dutch, 1602–1670)
- Date
- 1644
- Medium
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- Framed: 57 x 79 x 5.5 cm (22 7/16 x 31 1/8 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 39.3 x 60.5 cm (15 1/2 x 23 13/16 in.)
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Artist’s life 1602–1670
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.