RUYSDAEL, Salomon van
(b. ca. 1602, Naarden, d. 1670, Haarlem)

River Landscape with Boats and Liesvelt Castle

1641
Oil on panel, x cm
Private collection

In this peaceful river scene. various vessels float along a river whose blue surface is slightly rippled by a gentle breeze. Beyond the bank at right rises the tower of Liesvelt Castle - a fortress that sat along the bank of the Lek River in South Holland until it was demolished in 1740. It appears Ruysdael appreciated the picturesque qualities of this structure, for it recurs in a number of his other imagined river scenes