Among the stellar figures of the Dutch Golden Age, Ruisdael is perhaps the preeminent master of the landscape genre. This magisterial catalogue raisonne testifies both to the genius of the artist and to the masterly scholarship of Slive (emeritus, fine arts, Harvard Univ.). In this work, every painting, drawing, and etching attributable to Ruisdael is scrupulously documented and perceptively discussed. The entries are not only well illustrated but are significantly complemented by reproductions of works that suggest both the master's sources and his influence. The paintings are grouped according to topographical or thematic content, with each "subgenre" preceded by a useful introductory essay. Various chronologies, concordances, appendixes, and indexes amplify the volume's contribution to the study of 17th-century Dutch art. Slive's resistance to the possibility of the paintings' iconography and the lack of an overarching synthetic articulation of Ruisdael's artistic development will distress some students, but E.J. Walford's Jacob van Ruisdael and the Perception of Landscape will complement this text in that regard. No museum or scholarly art library will wish to dispense with Slive's now canonic work. Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Tech., New York
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Jacob van Ruisdael is the preeminent Dutch landscape painter of the seventeenth century, renowned for the wealth of closely observed naturalistic detail in his works. This beautiful book, written by one of the most distinguished scholars of Dutch art, is a catalogue raisonné of Ruisdael's landscapes: almost 700 paintings, more than 130 drawings, and 13 rare etchings.
Seymour Slive demonstrates the totality of the artist's vision in all three media, offering comprehensive and perceptive entries on all catalogued works. He also presents and discusses paintings and drawings that have been wrongly attributed to Ruisdael or whose status is uncertain. In addition, Slive provides a documented chronology of Ruisdael's life based on a fresh examination of published and unpublished archival material; a chronological list of his dated works in all media; a topographical index; and concordances. In two appendices, Slive reviews the proposal that Ruisdael had a second profession as a medical doctor and discusses the copies John Constable made of Ruisdael's landscapes during the course of his lifelong passion for the master.
The combination of text and lavish reproductions makes this volume both a major work of scholarship and a vivid testimony to Ruisdael's ongoing legacy.
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