# Castle on a River

- By: Salomon van Ruysdael (Dutch, 1602–1670)
- Date: 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
- Credit line: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1973.2)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1973.2/1973.2_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

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.