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

Stormy Sea with Sailing Boats

c. 1668
Oil on canvas, 50 x 63 cm
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Ruisdael introduces into landscape painting portrayal of the violent side of nature, in contrast to the calm which dominated the work of the previous generation. In a composition which is typical in its use of a low horizon, a boat among the shadows in the foreground heels over in the strong wind. In the background other similarly wind-tossed boats are barely sketched in. The real protagonist of the painting are not the sailing boats but the grandeur and force of nature: the wind and the stormy sea.