View of Sailing Boats on a Lake

Salomon van Ruysdael’s favourite subject was the Dutch water landscape with rivers, ponds and lakes. He painted it many times, often following an established pattern. He placed the horizon low and the clouds above in a diagonal line, thus creating a great sense of space and depth on a small scale. He also left the reddish-brown base visible here and there, which lends a quality of movement to the clouds.

Salomon van Ruysdael was the uncle of Jacob van Ruisdael, who became even more famous as a landscape painter.