Oil Painting, 'Woody Landscape with Cattle and Stream', manner of Jacob Salomonsz.van Ruisdael, 1678

A wooded landscape with cattle and sheep grazing by a stream and a cattle herder on horseback

Bequeathed by John M. Parsons

Bequeathed by John M. Parsons, 1870
John Meeson Parsons (1798-1870), art collector, was born in Newport, Shropshire. He later settled in London, and became a member of the stock exchange. His interest in railways led to his election as an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1839, and he was director or chairman of two railway companies between 1843 and 1848. Much of his time however was spent collecting pictures and works of art. In his will he offered his collection of mostly German and Dutch schools to the National Gallery (which selected only three works) and to the Department of Science and Art at South Kensington, later the Victoria and Albert Museum. The South Kensington Museum acquired ninety-two oil paintings and forty-seven watercolours. A number of engravings were also left to the British Museum.

According to a handwritten note in the object file, the work was transferred to Osterley Park in Dec. 1957 and Returned to Kensington in Oct. 1967.

Historical significance: Marijke de Kinkelder has recently attributed this work to Jacob Salomonsz. van Ruisdael (1629/30 - 1681) (written communication, March 2010) based on photographs only. Jacob Salomonsz. was born in Haarlem, the son of Salomon van Ruysdael and a cousin and pupil of the most important painter of this family, Jacob van Ruisdael- generally regarded as the principal figure among Dutch landscape painters of the second half of the 17th century. In 544-1870 Jacob Salomonsz. is clearly inspired by his cousin's wooded landscapes in his depiction of a dense forest mass at right which offsets the distant open view on the left. The brown and olive-green tints are lightened with bluish-green, and a delicate grey enlivens the highlights on the tree trunks. Like his cousin, Jacob Salomonsz. is interested in precisely representing different kinds of tree, bearing witness to his remarkable powers of observation and ability to create naturalistic compositions. Jacob Salomonsz. worked as a landscape painter first in Haarlem, and by 1666 in Amsterdam. He blended his father's and cousin's approaches to create his own personal artistic style. He is generally believed to have stopped painting in the mid-1660s when he became a stocking-seller in Amstredam. If correct, the inscribed date of 1678 on the painting suggests a particularly late work in his oeuvre.

Landscape paintings were extremely popular during the 17th century and increasingly encompassed a variety of forms and genres. Dutch painters in particular were inspired to paint nature, both their familiar surroundings as well as more exotic locales, the most popular being Italy. In the early 1600s, innovative contributions to landscape paintings were made, especially by the marine painters who concentrated on the changing effects of light according to atmospheric conditions and perspective and had a considerable impact on the appearance of landscape painting. Panoramic views also became popular in 17th-century Netherlandish art and views of the Dutch countryside developed under the influence of Jan van Goyen (1596-1656) who employed a broken brushwork technique and used a restrained monochromatic palette of earthy colours. Towards the end of the 17th century, a shift in taste is detected in favour of more academic and classical landscapes inspired by Italianate paintings and often employed as settings for mythological or historical subjects.

Acquired as by Jacob van Ruisdael (1893), Kauffmann (1973) suggested in was a 19th-century work in the manner of van Ruisdael. Marijke de Kinkelder has recently attributed this work to Jacob Salomonsz. van Ruisdael (1629/30 - 1681) (written communication, March 2010) based on photographs only.

A wooded landscape with cattle and sheep grazing by a stream and a cattle herder on horseback. This work is attributed to Jacob Salomonsz. van Ruisdael (1629/30 - 1681) Born in Haarlem, Jacob Salomonsz. was the son of Salomon van Ruysdael and a cousin and pupil of the most important painter of this family, Jacob van Ruisdael- generally regarded as the principal figure among Dutch landscape painters of the second half of the 17th century. 544-1870 reveals the degree to which Jacob Salomonsz.'s was inspired by his cousin's wooded landscapes, particularly in his depiction of a dense forest mass at right which offsets the distant open view on the left. The brown and olive-green tints are lightened with bluish-green, and a delicate grey enlivens the highlights on the tree trunks. Like his cousin, Jacob Salomonsz. is interested in precisely representing different kinds of tree, bearing witness to his remarkable powers of observation and ability to create naturalistic compositions. He is generally believed to have stopped painting in the mid-1660s when he became a stocking-seller in Amstredam. If correct, the inscribed date of 1678 on the painting suggests a particularly late work in his oeuvre.

544-1870