Van Ruisdael’s works form the pinnacle of Dutch landscape painting. They often have a monumental air about them. Here, he achieves this effect by making us look up at the castle from below. Van Ruisdael was the first to use this artistic device.
The Haarlem artist Van Ruisdael visited Bentheim Castle – just over the German border – in the summer of 1650. It must have made a deep impression on him, as he chose it regularly as a subject in the years that followed.