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Landscape with a Ferry

Artist Salomon van Ruysdael (Dutch, ca. 1602 - 1670)
Date1644
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 40 5/8 x 64 1/8 inches (103.19 x 162.88 cm)
Framed: 52 1/2 x 76 inches (133.35 x 193.04 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Object numberF61-72
Signed"S V Ruysdael 1644"
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 117
Collections
DescriptionLow-horizon view with water in foreground, flat-bottomed boat with ten figures and horse aboard, lower right corner, other sailing craft in distance; in left middleground, three large trees and a mill, cattle and herdsman at edge of shore; spires in far distance; right of center, steepled church with gabled transept, polygonal apse nearest water.Exhibition History

Tentoonstelling van Schilderijen van Oud-hollandsche Meesters uit de Collectie Katz te Dieren, Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem, November 17- December 15, 1934, no. 23.

Tentoonstelling van 16e en 17e eeuwsche Hollandsche, Vlaamsche en Italiaansche schilderijen (o.a. van Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Joos van Cleve, P.P. Rubens, Lorenzo di Credi) en antiquiteiten uit de collectie der Fa. D. Katz te Dieren, Nijmegen, July 15–September 1, 1936, no. 74.

Gallery Label
Haarlem-based landscape artist Salomon van Ruysdael specialized in painting diagonally receding river views overhung with trees. Here, he employs a low horizon to enhance the effect of the expansive sky. He also enlivens the scene with small figures engaged in everyday activities. In the foreground, a ferryboat laden with passengers glides across the water's reflective surface. Rivers and canals functioned as commercial arteries that contributed to the growth of the Dutch economy. Landscapes such as this would have resonated with viewers proud of their country's achievements.
Provenance

Justice Charles H. Lushington, (1813-1874), Rodmersham Lodge, Kent, by 1874;

By descent to his son, Charles Hugh Lushington (1862-1907), Mahurangi Heads, New Zealand, 1874-1907;

Inherited by his widow, Sarah Jane Lushington (d. 1932), Mahurangi Heads, New Zealand, 1907-1929 [1];

Purchased at her sale, Old Pictures from Various Sources, Christie’s, London, February 1, 1929, lot 19, by de Casseres, 1929-1934 [2];

Purchased from de Casseres by D. Katz, Dieren, Holland, 1934-at least 1938;

With Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zurich, by July 8, 1952; 

Purchased from Feilchenfeldt by M. Knoedler and Co., New York, on joint account with Pinakos, Inc. [Rudolf Heinemann], New York, Knoedler stock book 10, no. A4947, July 8, 1952-February 7, 1955 [3];

Purchased from Knoedler and Pinakos by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York, February 7, 1955-1961;

Its gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1961.


NOTES:

[1] According to “Old Masters from New Zealand,” The Argus (February 4, 1929), 9, Sarah Jane Lushington inherited the painting from her late husband, who in turn had inherited it from his father. She attempted to sell the painting anonymously at Christie, Manson and Woods, London, Pictures by Old Masters, July 13, 1923, lot 64, as The Ferry, though it failed to sell and was bought in by ‘Lash’ (presumably an abbreviated reference to Lushington). The picture remained in her possession until 1929.

[2] This is presumably Arthur de Casseres, a dealer with a shop at 27 St. James’s Street, London, who was buying at other London sales around this time. Information supplied by the National Gallery, London.

[3] The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, M. Knoedler and Co. Records, Series I, Box 10, stock book no. 10, n. A4947 and Series IV, Box 118.

Published References

Catalogue of Pictures by Old Masters Sold by Direction of the Trustees of His Grace the Duke of Grafton, K.G., And Early English Portraits, the Property of Major-Gen. Sir Charles V. F. Townshend, K.C.B., D.S.O. of Vere Lodge, Raynham, Norfolk, Also Old Pictures, Part of the Collection of Edward R. Bacon, Esq. of Netherdale House, Turriff, Aberdeenshire, and Fifth Avenue, New York, The Property of B.H. Bent, Esq., Deceased; late of Goodworth House, Lower Clatford, Hants, And From Other Sources  (London: Christie, Manson & Woods, July 13, 1923), 15.

Catalogue of Old Pictures from Various Sources, Also A Few Old Pictures, The Property of The Rev. J. F. MacNabb, Sold owing to his having disposed of his residence, Arthurstone, Binfield, The Property of Mrs. Lushington, who has given up her residence at Mahurangi Heads, New Zealand (London: Christie, Manson & Woods, February 1, 1929), 15.


“Old Masters from New Zealand,” The Argus (February 4, 1929): 9.


Tentoonstelling van Schilderijen van Oud-Hollandsche Meesters uit de Collectie Katz te Dieren: Frans Halsmuseum, exh.cat. (Haarlem: Frans Hals Museum, 1934), unpaginated.


Tentoonstelling van 16e en 17e eeuwsche Hollandsche, Vlaamsche en Italiaansche schilderijen (o.a. van Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Joos van Cleve, P.P. Rubens, Lorenzo di Credi) en antiquiteiten uit de collectie der Fa. D. Katz te Dieren, exh. cat. (Nijmegen: Commissie Waalbrug, Huize "Belvoir," 1936), 23.

Wolfgang Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael: Ein Einführung in Seine Kunst; mit Kritischem Katalog der Gemälde und einem Bilderteil von 72 Abbildungen auf 48 Lichtaufdrucktafeln (Berlin: Verlag Gebr. Mann, 1938), no. 345, p. 108.

Michael Jaffe, “The Flemish and Dutch Schools,” Apollo 96 (December 1972): 511, (repro.) [repr. in Denys Sutton, ed., William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City (London: Apollo Magazine, 1972), 43, (repro.)].

Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 120, (repro.).

Wolfgang Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael: Eine Einfuhrung in seine Kunst; mit Kritischem Katalog der Gemälde und einem Bilderteil von 82 Abbildungen auf 56 Tafeln, 2nd ed. (1938; Berlin: Verlag Gebr. Mann, 1975), no. 345, pp. 120121.

Colin Eisler, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection (Oxford: Phaidon, 1977), 145.


John D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America (New York: Abbeville, 1979), 250.


Peter C. Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America (Washington D.C.: The Netherlands–American Amity Trust, 1986), 125.



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