A Cottage and a Hayrick by a River
- Artist: Jacob van Ruisdael
- Date: about 1646-50
- Medium: oil on wood
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is the "Cottage and a Hayrick by a River" painted in the Netherlands by Jacob van Ruisdael. The painting was probably made when he was only about 20 years old, around the time that he qualified as an artist and joined the painters' guild in his home town of Haarlem.
Van Ruisdael has built the composition around a stand of scrubby trees and a farmhouse on the edge of a river – and made it all the more artistically challenging by choosing a backlit scene. The effects of light filtering through the leaves and the glare of the sun on the surface of the river are incredibly vivid.
Look closely at the brushwork here, you can see the techniques that van Ruisdael used to create a convincing effect. He has built up an impression of the myriad colours of the leaves with thousands of tiny dabs and smudges of different greens, browns and yellows, as well as a few tiny flecks of white.
The tree trunks in the centre of the picture are rendered with thick brushstrokes, while the blue-greens of a willow pollard and the spiky light-green leaves of the reeds growing against the river bank add depth to the scene. The glassy reflections in the water are suggested by even paint layers, while delicate spatters of bright white pick out the glitter on the surface.
It's clear that van Ruisdael was heavily influenced by his uncle Salomon van Ruysdael, who painted many river and estuary scenes taking a 'naturalistic' approach.
See it in person
A Cottage and a Hayrick by a River hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
