A View of Deventer seen from the North-West
- Artist: Salomon van Ruysdael
- Date: 1657
- Medium: oil on wood
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is "A View of Deventer seen from the North-West" painted in 1657 by Salomon van Ruysdael. Look at the way those sailboats are leaning into the wind, their taut sails outlined against a cool, luminous sky. You can see the patch of intense blue reflected on the water below. And look, there's a fisherman in a rowing boat midstream, his dragnet bobbing on the water.
Van Ruysdael was one of those Dutch artists who pioneered painting naturalistic scenes with vast skies. He used a palette mainly of greens, greys, and blues to capture what he saw, but also the essence of the Dutch landscape. And that's exactly what you see here - the winding River Ijssel, the city of Deventer, its buildings hazy through the morning mist.
Notice how van Ruysdael has painted those buildings in slightly different positions for the sake of the composition. The windmills on the left, the church towers to the right... it's all about capturing that rhythmic flow. And if you look closely, you can even see his signature on one of the wooden slats of that beached boat.
It's a beautiful painting, and I think what really makes it stand out is van Ruysdael's poetic vision. He turns this ordinary Dutch scene into something epic, like an adventure on the high seas.
See it in person
A View of Deventer seen from the North-West 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.
