NARRATOR:
Sunlight breaks through the clouds to highlight three old trees perched on a rocky cliff. The largest, its bark gleaming dramatically, seems to have been shattered by lightning. Immediately below, our gaze is lead into the distance by an undulating road, its tiny travelers dwarfed by the magnificent landscape. A lush valley spreads out beyond, with a dilapidated farmhouse, a broad, smooth river, and a town nestled at the foot of mountains. The expansive scene is suffused with soft light that sets a calm, meditative mood.
In the distance, cool greens, blues, and silvery tones evoke atmosphere and great distance. But up close, warm, earthy colors suggest a specific season—autumn. Meticulously detailed leaves are tinged with rich browns and ochres, while brilliant whites on the tree trunks create contrast and a strong visual accent.
A painter, draughtsman and etcher, Jacob van Ruisdael was greatly admired for his landscape pictures. This one, from the late 1660s, is unusually large for this type of painting—in fact, the largest in the Dutch collection here at the Norton Simon. Over the course of his long career, Ruisdael produced several distinct types of landscape—mountainous, beach and woodland settings—that were among the most original of his day. In this painting, he expresses the impermanence of nature, a theme that reflected 17th-century notions of the brevity of human life. Here, the natural world is bountiful, vast and magnificent—a form of divine revelation presented for viewers to contemplate.
Three Great Trees in a Mountainous Landscape with a River
c. 1665-70
Jacob van Ruisdael (Dutch, 1628/9-1682)
On View
Born in Haarlem, Ruisdael was the son of a frame-maker and art dealer. In the 1660s, and at the height of his powers, Ruisdael was creating landscapes of unprecedented force and majesty. In this painting, nature is vividly rendered, rich in color, brilliantly illuminated and vast. The handling of the sky and light is refined and diffuse; combined with a warm palette that creates a calm mood.
For all its richly observed detail, the landscape is an image of nature in general: beautiful, bountiful, varied and expansive. In capturing the mutable elements of nature, Ruisdael has preserved them, perhaps so that we might contemplate the Creator in the creation.
Details
- Artist Name: Jacob van Ruisdael (Dutch, 1628/9-1682)
- Title: Three Great Trees in a Mountainous Landscape with a River
- Date: c. 1665-70
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 54-3/8 x 68-1/8 in. (138.1 x 173.1 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1971.2.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
Lady Cooper, London, 1842.
Edward Dawkins, Guilsborough Grange, January 1895, when submitted to Christie's for auction but later withdrawn and returned to Dawkins.
[C. Sedelmeyer, Paris, in 1895).
Maurice Kann, Paris (sale, 9 June 1911, Paris Galerie Georges Petit, lot 59, ill., to;)
Fischof [Fishoff?].
Leo Collins [a.k.a. Cohen] Vienna and Paris, c. 1910-20s.
[C. Sedelmeyer, Paris, 1925].
Baron Marczell von Nemes, Munich (sale, Amsterdam, 13 November 1928, no. 62, presumably bought in; (Frederik Muller, Munich, 16 June 1931, lot 60, ill., as Landscape with Three Oaks, to;)
Gustav Oberlaender (1867-1936) Go-Al-Do Manor, Reading, Pennsylvania, bequeathed to his daughter;
Mrs. Harold M. Leinbach (sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, 26 May 1939, lot 236, ill.).
John Bass, New York, by 1940 (Parke-Bernet, New York, 25 January 1945, lot 22, ill).
Drs. Fritz and Peter Nathan, Zurich, to;
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Edward Dawkins, Guilsborough Grange, January 1895, when submitted to Christie's for auction but later withdrawn and returned to Dawkins.
[C. Sedelmeyer, Paris, in 1895).
Maurice Kann, Paris (sale, 9 June 1911, Paris Galerie Georges Petit, lot 59, ill., to;)
Fischof [Fishoff?].
Leo Collins [a.k.a. Cohen] Vienna and Paris, c. 1910-20s.
[C. Sedelmeyer, Paris, 1925].
Baron Marczell von Nemes, Munich (sale, Amsterdam, 13 November 1928, no. 62, presumably bought in; (Frederik Muller, Munich, 16 June 1931, lot 60, ill., as Landscape with Three Oaks, to;)
Gustav Oberlaender (1867-1936) Go-Al-Do Manor, Reading, Pennsylvania, bequeathed to his daughter;
Mrs. Harold M. Leinbach (sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, 26 May 1939, lot 236, ill.).
John Bass, New York, by 1940 (Parke-Bernet, New York, 25 January 1945, lot 22, ill).
Drs. Fritz and Peter Nathan, Zurich, to;
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Exhibition of the Second Hundred Paintings by Old Masters
- Paris, Galerie Sedelmeyer, 1895 to
Golden Gate International Exposition
- California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1940 to
Jacob van Ruisdael
- The Hague, Mauritshuis, 1981-10-01 to 1982-01-03
- Fogg Art Museum, 1982-01-12 to 1982-04-11
[on loan]
- Princeton University Art Museum, 1971 to 1972
Reinstallation of Galleries: Art History of the 17th and 18th Century Gains Fresh Dimension
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-09-02 to 1995-08-13
- Hofstede de Groot, C., A Catalogue Raisonné of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, nos. 673, 708, 725
- Simon, Kurt Erich, The Burlington Magazine, p. 135
- Rosenberg, J., Jacob van Ruisdael, no. 416 p. 98
- Brown, Christopher, The Burlington Magazine, pp. 190-193
- Sutton, Peter C., Art Journal, p. 150
- Slive, Seymour, and H. R. Hoetink, Jacob van Ruisdael, no. 38 p. 19
- Gerson, Horst, The Connoisseur, fig. 11 pp. 162-171
- Smith, J., A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters 1842, 1842, no. 8 p. 684
- Galerie Sedelmeyer, Paris, Exhibition of the Second Hundred Paintings by Old Masters, 1895, no. 36 p. 42
- Gillet, Louis, Revue de l'art ancien et moderne, 1909, p. 370
- Nathan, P., Dr. Fritz Nathan und Dr. Peter Nathan, 1972, no. 13
- Drucker, Peter F., Adventures of a Bystander, 1978, p. 209
- Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America, 1979, p. 249
- Ashton, Peter Shaw; Seymour Slive and Alice I. Davies, Arnoldia, 1982, pl. 10 pp. 2-31
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 65
- Walford, E. John, Jacob van Ruisdael and the Perception of Landscape, 1991, fig. 147 pp. 134, 138
- Dyrness, William, Visual Faith: Art, Theology and Worship in Dialogue, 2001, fig. 17 p. 56
- Slive, Seymour, Jacob van Ruisdael: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Drawings and Etchings, 2001, no. 475 pp. 348-49, Appendix I
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 743 p. 334
- Peter Molnos, Lost Heritage: Hungarian Art Collectors in the Twentieth Century, 2018, p. 220
- Nelleke de Vries, Yvonne Bleyerveld, Quinten Pellegrom, Onderweg naar Bentheim. Twente door de ogen van Ruisdael, Hobbema en Waterloo, 2023, afb. 35 pp. 62-64, p. 66 (ill.)
Image reproduction permission may be granted for scholarly or arts related commercial use. All image requests, regardless of their intended purpose, should be submitted via the reproduction request form.
Images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. Additional permission may be required.
Approved requests for the reproduction of an image will receive a contract detailing all fees and conditions of use of the image. Upon receipt of both the signed contract and full payment, the Office of Rights and Reproductions will provide the image. A complimentary copy of the published material must be provided to the Norton Simon Museum.