Jacob van Ruisdael (Ruisdael Jacob van)

(1628 or 1629-1682)
Born in Haarlem. Studied, probably with his uncle, the landscape harlemskogo Solomon van Ruisdael. In 1648 joined the guild of painters in his hometown. Then some time traveled in the eastern Netherlands and West Germany, in 1657 he settled in Amsterdam, where he studied painting and perhaps medicine. In 1682 he returned to Harlem, sick and impoverished. Ruisdael died in Haarlem March 14, 1682.
Early paintings Ruisdael made from 1646 to 1649, - mostly landscapes surrounding Haarlem. In those years shaped his original pictorial style, his concept of the sad, stern and heroic nature. One or several small, sometimes only briefly sketched human figurines are an integral part of its extensive panoramic views with trees, mountains, castle ruins, waterfalls and river flows. Ruisdael always managed to convey a sense of immensity and grandeur of nature. It does this by skillfully combining the images of fantasy with the results of real observations. The artist wrote in a nearly monochrome green-brownish color range, in the later his work is dominated by gray colors. Dated only a small number of works by Ruisdael created between 1654 and 1665, some of these winter landscapes and species of the coast are among the best creations of Dutch painting. Ruisdael was a prolific artist who survived more than 600 of his works.