Mountain Torrent
1670s
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
21 1/4 x 16 1/2 in. (54 x 41.9 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Collis P. Huntington, 1900
Accession Number
25.110.18
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Mountain Torrent** by Jacob van Ruisdael, in the 1670s, captures the raw power of nature in a compact oil-on-canvas landscape (21¼ × 16½ in.). A leading figure of the Dutch Golden Age, Ruisel mastered dramatic vistas that blend meticulous observation with imaginative grandeur. Here, a rushing torrent cascades over rocks, framed by rugged mountains, a sturdy bridge, and misty waterfalls—evoking the sublime forces of the natural world, likely inspired by Scandinavian scenery despite the artist's Dutch roots. Ruisdael's technique shines in his layered brushwork, rendering foaming water with dy...
About the Artist
Jacob van Ruisdael · 1623–1682
Jacob van Ruisdael (c. 1629–1682) was a Dutch painter and etcher who is widely regarded as the greatest landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age and one of the supreme landscape artists in Western art. Born in Haarlem, he was trained by his father, the frame-maker and painter Isaack van Ruisdael, and by his uncle, the landscape painter Salomon van Ruysdael. He became a member of the Haarlem Guild...