Castle on a River

Salomon van Ruysdael (Dutch, 1602–1670)

1644

Medium
oil on wood
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
Framed: 57 x 79 x 5.5 cm (22 7/16 x 31 1/8 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 39.3 x 60.5 cm (15 1/2 x 23 13/16 in.)
Culture
Netherlands
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art, European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

Salomon van Ruysdael, the uncle of Jacob van Ruisdael, here represents a free interpretation of the Castle Loevenstein. In addition to its picturesque qualities, the castle had great political and cultural importance as the official state prison and a key fort in the southern Netherlands. Painted just before the Dutch won independence from Spain in 1648, the painting likely expressed nationalist pride for its owner.