The Valkhof at Nijmegen (Primary Title)

Salomon van Ruysdael, Dutch, ca. 1602 - 1670 (Artist)

1652
Dutch
Oil on panel
Unframed: 27 1/2 x 36 1/4 in. Framed: 37 1/2 x 46 x 4 in.
L2020.6.32
This majestic river-scape was painted after the signing of the Treaty of Munster (1648), which granted the Netherlands independence from Spanish rule and full recognition as a country. By this time, the historic city of Nijmegen had been long revered as the traditional home of the Batavians, the ancient forefathers of the Dutch. The city’s medieval citadel, called the Valkhof (Falcon Court), had served as the monarchical seat of justice before the near century of Spanish control. For citizens of the new Dutch Republic, the citadel became a symbol of national pride. Ruysdael represented its principal tower as taller than it actually was to emphasize the monument’s grandeur and reflect the contemporary spirit of triumph. Ruysdael’s composition is nearly identical to views of Nijmegen painted by Jan van Goyen (1596–1656) a little over a decade earlier, and the artist was likely attempting to benefit commercially from the newfound patriotism of Dutch collectors. Ruysdael became one of the foremost Dutch landscape painters in the first half of the 17th century
The Jordan and Thomas A. Saunders III Collection

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