File:Sketches of great painters for young people (1902) (14803823253).jpg

Identifier: sketchesofgreatp00dall (find matches)
Title: Sketches of great painters for young people
Year: 1902 (1900s)
Authors: Dallin, Colonna Murray, Mrs
Subjects: Painters
Publisher: New York, Boston (etc.) Silver, Burdett and Company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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a line oflight on a field, the beauty of shadows, and the varietyand depth of foliage are among its charming qualities. The Ray of Sunshine is a work full of poetry. Thelandscape is composed of picturesque elements. Theeye passes with interest from the group in the fore-ground, where a horseman gives alms to a beggar,across an arched bridge spanning a stream, and gets aview of ruins, a windmill, a village church, and somebathers. On, on, the eye follows, up to the top of ahill crowned with a chateau ; nor does the interest endthere, for the clouds above are superb, as they rollaway from the hilltop. Here are the solid earth, theclouds, and the sky of Holland. From a rift in a cloud,a ray of sunshine falls upon a field in the middle dis-tance and illumines it, hence the name of the picture.In such pictures as this Ruisdael expressed the charac-teristic traits of his country, its quiet melancholy, andits monotonous and tranquil charm. So little is known of Ruisdaels life, that not much
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RUISDAEL. 149 about him can be stated with authority. It is supposedthat he visited Norway, because he painted as many asseventy-five pictures of that country. They werepainted when his powers were mature, but they arenot his best works. One of the finest of them is theOascale. At Haarlem his life was one of hardship,for he was unknown and unappreciated. At length hedecided to leave his native town and go to Amsterdam,where there were feAver artists in proportion to thepopulation, and more wealth. In 1659 he became acitizen of Amsterdam, and there he remained till justbefore his death. Ruisdael accepted all sorts of work at Amsterdam, inorder to earn his living. For the rich men of the cityhe painted views of the town or country, containingpictures of their homes. Sometimes, also, he paintedbackgrounds for other artists. These were not con-genial tasks, and he returned with pleasure to paintingthe Haarlem road and other familiar scenes that heloved. The mysterious melancholy that was

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