JACOB ISAACKSZ. VAN RUISDAEL Stormy sea with sailing ships.

JACOB ISAACKSZ. VAN RUISDAEL

(Haarlem 1628–1682 Amsterdam)
Stormy sea with sailing ships.
Oil on canvas.
Monogrammed lower left: JvR.
51.3 × 66.5 cm.

Provenance:
- Professor Jan Bleuland collection (1756–1838), Utrecht, circa 1833.
- Auction H. van Ommeren, Utrecht, 6 May 1839, lot 289.
- Baron Willem Joseph van Brienen van de Groote Lindt collection (1760–1839), The Hague.
- By inheritance to his son Baron Arnoud Willem van Brienen van de Groote Lindt (1783–1854), Amsterdam and The Hague.
- By inheritance to his son Baron Willem Diederik Arnoud Maria van Brienen van de Groote Lindt (1814–1873), Amsterdam and The Hague.
- Auction Etienne Le Roy and Ferdinand Laneuville, Paris, 8 May 1865, lot 35.
- Barthold Suermondt collection (1818–1887), Aachen.
- Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum collection, Berlin, from 1874 (verso with wax seal).
- Exchanged by the aforementioned museum with Van Diemen, Berlin, circa 1924.
- Private collection, Frankfurt am Main, 1928.
- K.A. Volz collection, The Hague.
- August Wilhelm Volz collection (1873–1944), The Hague, 1936/37.
- Etienne Marie Louis Nicolas collection (1870–1960), Paris.
- Auction Sotheby's, London, 27 June 1962, lot 30.
- With Alfred Brod, London, 1963.
- Auction Sotheby's, London, 14 December 1977, lot 22.
- With Galerie St. Lucas, Vienna, circa 1978/79.
- Erna Weidinger collection, née Wertanek (1923–2021), Vienna.
- Auction Kinsky, 8 November 2022, lot 23.
- European collection.

Exhibited:
- Brussels 1873, Exposition de tableaux et dessins d'anciens maîtres, Société Néerlandaise de Bienfaisance, 1873, p. 18, no. 30.
- Brussels 1874, Catalogue de la collection de tableaux et dessins anciens et modernes de M. B. Suermondt, exposée dans un but philantropique, Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, 1874, p. 58, no. 153.
- The Hague 1936/37, Oude Kunst uit Haagsch bezit, Mauritshuis, no. 168.
- London 1963, Alfred Brod, 9–30 May 1963, no. 17.
- Vienna 1978/79, Old master paintings, Galerie St. Lucas, Winter 1978/79, no. 19.
- Dordrecht 2026, Turner. Water en licht, Dordrechts Museum, 8 February–14 June 2026.

Literature:
- William Bürger [Théophile Thoré]: 'Nouvelles études sur la Galerie Suermondt: XIII. Les Ruisdael', in: Gazette des Beaux-Arts 1869, pp. 183–84, illustrated with an etching by L. Flameng on p. 186 (as Salomon van Ruysdael).
- 'Stüürmische See, Oelgemälde von Jak. Ruisdael in der Galerie Suermondt in Aachen', in: Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst 4, 1869, pp. 240–43, illustrated with the etching by L. Flameng in Bürger/Thoré 1869.
- Carel Vosmaer: 'Tentoonstelling van schilderijen en teekeningen te Brussel', in: De Nederlandsche Spectator 18, 1873, p. 148.
- René Ménard: 'Exposition rétrospective de Bruxelles', in: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1873, p. 541.
- Paul Mantz: 'La galerie de M. Suermondt', in: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1874, p. 453.
- Frederick Charles Willis: Die niederländische Marinemalerei, Leipzig 1911, p. 63.
- Cornelis Hofstede de Groot: Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, Vol. IV, Esslingen/Paris 1911, p. 282, no. 942, p. 294, no. 978.
- Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der Gemälde im Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin, Berlin/Leipzig 1921, no. 885B.
- Jakob Rosenberg: Jacob van Ruisdael, Berlin 1928, no. 582.
- Gerardus Arnulf Maria Janssen: Das Haus Herengracht 182 zu Amsterdam und seine Sammlung von Gemälden Niederländischer Maler des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts, Munich 1988, pp. 117–18.
- Herbert Lepper: 'Kunsttransfer aus der Rheinprovinz in die Reichshauptstadt. Der Erwerb der Gemälde-Sammlung des Aachener Industriellen Barthold Suermondt durch die Königlichen Museen zu Berlin im Jahre 1874. Ein Beitrag zur Museumspolitik Preussens nach der Reichsgründung', in: Aachener Kunstblätter 56–57, 1988/89, p. 304, no. 90.
- Seymour Slive: Jacob van Ruisdael. A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Drawings and Etchings, New Haven/London 2001, p. 463, no. 654.
- Susanna Avery-Quash: The Travel Notebooks of Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, Vol. I, London 2011, p. 543.
- Exh. cat. Gestatten, Suermondt! Sammler, Kenner, Kunstmäzen, ed. Peter van den Brink and Wibke Vera Birth, Aachen 2018, p. 366, no. 302.
- Susanne Randhage: Die Seebilder des Jacob van Ruisdael, Berlin 2021, p. 444, no. 18.

Marine paintings occupy a special place within Jacob van Ruisdael's extensive oeuvre, since of the approximately 700 known paintings by the artist only around 30 are marine subjects. The majority of these seascapes are today held in major museum collections worldwide, including the Louvre in Paris, the National Gallery in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The present painting therefore offers a rare opportunity to add a high-quality marine by Ruisdael to a collection.

Ruisdael's seascapes were already highly esteemed during his lifetime and exerted a major influence on important masters of subsequent generations. A fine example is Joseph Mallord William Turner's (1775–1851) famous Port Ruysdael of 1826/27 (Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, inv. no. B1977.14.80), which even bears the Dutch master's name in its title. Until mid-June of this year, our painting hung in the exhibition Turner. Water en licht at the Dordrechts Museum opposite this very Port Ruysdael by Turner. This juxtaposition particularly clearly illustrated Ruisdael's importance for the British Romantic Turner and, with it, the considerable art-historical significance that can be attributed to Jacob van Ruisdael's seascapes.

Ruisdael's marine paintings possess a dramatic atmosphere and compelling dynamism, both of which are superbly expressed in our painting. The storm-tossed sea, on whose waves numerous sailing boats dance in the wind, and the dramatic lighting of sunlight breaking through the thunderclouds and illuminating the surging sea are characteristic elements of Ruisdael's marine painting.

By the time Ruisdael created the painting offered here, he had perfected his painterly repertoire for depicting imposing yet fleeting weather conditions. Particularly effective are the monumental clouds that dominate the composition, while a change in the weather determines the overall mood of the painting. The boats exposed to the forces of nature illustrate the fragility of human existence, elevating the scene to a contemplative level.

Our painting also boasts an impeccable and illustrious provenance. Among other distinguished collections, the work belonged to the famous collection of the German entrepreneur Barthold Suermondt (1818–1887) in Aachen, further underscoring the quality of this masterpiece.