Ruysdael & Hobbema

Dutch landscape painters of great repute who lived in the seventeenth century. Two names are always linked together: Jacob Van Ruisdael and Meindert Hobbema. 

Hobbema trained under Ruisdael, travelled with him in sketching excursion, and Ruisdael even served as a witness at Hobbema's marriage in 1668.

Both of them specialised in landscapes of Dutch country side: including forests and woodlands, streams and ponds, windmills and watermills, dramatic sky and changing light.

Their styles were so similar that some paintings were later misattributed from one to other.

Although closely connected, their artistic identity were distinct.

Ruisdael was more romantic and emotional. He loved wild and powerful nature.  Often painted stormy skies and rugged scenery.  His paintings were of romantic grandeur.

The Jewish Cemetery, Windmill at 

Wijk bij Duurstede, View of Haarlem with Bleaching Fields are some of his great works. 

Hobbema's creations are more peaceful and lyrical.  He preferred cultivated countryside. Favoured sunny woods, roads and watermills. They are calm and orderly. 

Hobbema's creations include: The Avenue at Middelharnis, The Travellers, The Watermill. 

If Ruisdael paints nature with something of the grandeur and melancholy found in Hardy's Egdon Heath, Hobbema paints the countryside as a place of quiet human habitation --- sunlit roads, cottages, and mills nestled among trees. Both are masters, but their moods are different.