Wooded Dunes

Painting of a low dune and some trees
Wooded Dunes also known as Dune Landscape

Wooded Dunes, also known as Dune Landscape, Peasant Cottage in a Landscape, Wooded Dunes and Cottage in a Grove is a 1646 oil on panel painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Jacob van Ruisdael. It is in the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.[1]

The painting shows a landscape of small dunes, with a peasant on the side of the road, with his bundle and stick beside him. To the left is a pool; on one bank stands a workman conversing with two seated figures; on the opposite bank are trees. There is little green in the foliage, which has been much worked on with the mahl-stick. The foreground seems to be unfinished.[2] [3]

This work is one of the earliest known Ruisdaels. He was only a teenager when he created it. The dimensions are remarkable large for a starting artist: 105 x 163 cm. [1] It is signed and dated 1646. It is unknown who painted the figures.[2] Art historian Seymour Slive doubts the staffage is of the hand of Ruisdael's father, Isaack van Ruisdael.[1]

The painting is known by various names. The painting is called Dune Landscape in Slive's 2001 catalogue raisonné of Ruisdael, catalogue number 615.[4] The painting is called Wooded Dunes in Hofstede de Groot's 1911 catalogue raisonné, catalogue number 895.[2] The Hermitage calls it Peasant Cottage in a Landscape on their website, inventory number 939.[5] Kuznetsov calls it Cottage in a Grove in his book about Russian Ruisdaels.[6] Finally, Irina Sokolova, curator at the Hermitage, called it Small House in a Grove in her book.[7]

A smaller version, also dated 1646, is in het Goeverneurshuis in Paramaribo, Suriname. That one is catalogue number 610 in Slive's 2001 catalogue raisonné.[4]


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