RUISDAEL, Jacob Isaackszon van
(b. ca. 1628, Haarlem, d. 1682, Amsterdam)

Evening Landscape: A Windmill by a Stream

1655-59
Oil on canvas, 79 x 102 cm
Royal Collection, Windsor

The windmill depicted in this painting is a so-called 'wipmolen' or post-mill, and the entire upper section could rotate around a pole in the direction of the wind. It was used mainly for the removal of superfluous water from the polder. With this type of windmill the marshy boglands at the bottom of the dunes were drained and turned into farms and bleaching grounds. Bleaching was a characteristic activity on the fields outside Haarlem.