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

Oaks by a Lake with Waterlilies

1665-69
Oil on canvas, 117 x 142 cm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Although it includes a shepherd to the left, this landscape needs no figures, as it is so clearly a contemplation of the character of time and nature, of rest and motion, dealing with the passages from life to death. Life and death are presented in symbolic contrast, the dead white tree in the foreground highlighted against the dense oak grove.