Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings Signed (lower right): JvRuisdael [initials in monogram]
Gallery Label This canvas of the mid- to late 1660s depicts a road through grainfields and, in the distance, a village church. Contemporary viewers would have understood immediately the relationships between the rainclouds, the fields, and the mill. The finely detailed painting was owned by the English painter Sir Joshua Reynolds between 1756 and his death in 1792.
Notes Grain fields are a frequent subject in Ruisdael's oeuvre. There is a closely related composition in the Öffentliche Kunstsammlungen, Basel (inv. 924; Rosenberg 1928, no. 72), generally dated a few years earlier than the MMA work, which probably dates from the mid- to late 1660s. The Museum owns a second painting of this subject by Ruisdael ("Wheat Fields," 14.40.623).
Provenance John De Pesters, London (until 1756; his sale, Prestage, [London], April 1, 1756, no. 10 or 11, both to Reynolds); Sir Joshua Reynolds, London (1756–d. 1792; his estate, 1792–95; his estate sale, Christie's, London, March 17, 1795, no. 46, a pair, for 50 gns. [£52.10.0] to Hardman); William Hardman (from 1795); Thomas Hardman (until 1838; his sale, Winstanley and Sons, Manchester, October 19, 1838, no. 54, for 87 gns. to Edwards); Louis Viardot, Paris (until 1863); Gustave Rothan, Paris (until 1890; his estate sale, Georges Petit, Paris, May 29, 1890, no. 95, for Fr 24,000 to Lehmann); Albert Lehmann, Paris (1890–1925; his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 12, 1925, no. 282, for Fr 210,000 to Kleinberger); [Kleinberger, Paris and New York, from 1925]; Michael Friedsam, New York (by 1928–d. 1931)
Exhibition History London. No. 28 Haymarket. "Ralph's Exhibition of Pictures," 1791, no. 91 or 93 (both as "Landscape," by Ruysdale [sic]).
Paris. Musée de l'Orangerie. "Exposition hollandaise: Tableaux, aquarelles et dessins anciens et modernes," April–May, 1921, no. 90 (lent by Albert Lehmann, Paris).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Michael Friedsam Collection," November 15, 1932–April 9, 1933, no catalogue.
New York. World's Fair. "Masterpieces of Art: European & American Paintings, 1500–1900," May–October 1940, no. 90.
Milwaukee Auditorium. "Metropolitan Art Museum $1,000,000 Masterpiece Exhibition," March 7–14, 1953, unnumbered cat. (p. 13).
Austin, Tex. City Coliseum. "Texas Fine Arts Festival: Metropolitan Museum $1,000,000 Collection of Old Masters," April 18–26, 1953, unnum. checklist.
University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley. "Dutch Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 25, 1969–January 4, 1970, checklist no. 13.
Houston. Institute for the Arts, Rice University. "Dutch Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 18–March 1, 1970, checklist no. 13.
The Hague. Mauritshuis. "Jacob van Ruisdael," October 1, 1981–January 3, 1982, no. 31.
Cambridge, Mass. Fogg Art Museum. "Jacob van Ruisdael," January 18–April 11, 1982, no. 31.
Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum. "Masters of 17th-Century Dutch Landscape Painting," October 2, 1987–January 3, 1988, no. 83.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Masters of 17th-Century Dutch Landscape Painting," February 3–May 1, 1988, no. 83.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Masters of 17th-Century Dutch Landscape Painting," June 5–July 31, 1988, no. 83.
Athens. National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. "From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 13, 1992–April 11, 1993, no. 18.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 18, 2007–January 6, 2008, no catalogue.
References John Smith. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters . 6, London, 1835, p. 28, no. 73 or 74, as a pair of landscapes from the collection of Sir Joshua Reynolds sold in 1795 for 50 gns.Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, supplément à la Gazette des beaux-arts (1863), p. 130, as in the Viardot collection.A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century . 4, London, 1912, p. 50, no. 141, as sold at the 1890 Rothan sale for Fr 24,000.Jacob van Ruisdael . Berlin, 1928, pp. 77, 116, no. 87, as in the Friedsam collection.in The Michael Friedsam Collection . [completed 1928], p. 13, gives provenance and cataloguing information; as engraved by Maxime Lalanne.Dutch Landscape Painting of the Seventeenth Century . London, 1966, p. 29, fig. 37, dates it to the 1660s.Jacob van Ruisdael . Exh. cat., Mauritshuis, The Hague. New York, 1981, pp. 94, 96–97, no. 31, ill. (color), compares it with an "autograph variant" in the Öffentliche Kunstsammlungen, Basel (inv. 924; Rosenberg 1928, no. 72) which he dates to the early 1660s, dating the MMA work to a few years later.in Masters of 17th-Century Dutch Landscape Painting . Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Boston, 1987, pp. 445–48, no. 83, ill. p. 445 and colorpl. 99, dates it to the 1660s; analyzes the subject.in Masters of 17th-Century Dutch Landscape Painting . Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Boston, 1987, pp. 8, 51.Great Dutch Paintings from America . Exh. cat., Mauritshuis, The Hague. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1990, p. 52.Jacob van Ruisdael and the Perception of Landscape . New Haven, 1991, p. 149, fig. 154, as "Country Road with Cornfields"; dates it to the 1660s.in From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York . Exh. cat., National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. Athens, 1992, p. 307, no. 18, ill. (color) [catalogue section unpaginated], dates it about 1665.Dutch & Flemish Seventeenth-Century Paintings: The Harold Samuel Collection . Cambridge, 1992, pp. 170, 172 n. 6.Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York, 2007, vol. 2, pp. 792–95, no. 181, colorpl. 181, dates it to the mid- or late 1660s.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), p. 38.
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