A Torrent in a Mountainous Landscape

A mountain top shrouded in mist, a bubbling torrent of water tumbling headlong down a rocky hillside, a lone tree piercing the clouds – this was one of the favourite themes of the great Dutch landscape artist Jacob van Ruisdael during the middle of the seventeenth century. Inspired by drawings made by his friend and colleague Allart van Everdingen, who had to been to Scandinavia, they proved popular with collectors interested in more dramatic views than those offered by the flat Dutch landscape.In the past there was argument as to whether van Ruisdael or Jan (Johan) van Kessel, probably van Ruisdael’s pupil, painted the picture, but it is now considered to be by van Ruisdael himself. The signature, although added later, is authentic and the painting is similar to other waterfall pictures of the late 1660s, such as A Waterfall in a Rocky Landscape.