Seascape with Sailing-boat on the right

In these companion pieces, painted after 1650, rowing-boats and smalshipe in full sail, laden with freight and passengers, are crossing a canal.
Ruysdael captures the atmosphere of the damp sea air by using muted shades of grey and blue, brightened and animated with white, rather in the style of monochrome mood painting. The red flag fluttering from the masthead sets a vivid accent in the Seascape with Sailing-boat on the left. The background, rather indistinct in the hazy light, and the cloud formations low over the horizon give the impression of expanse. Arranged like a mirror image, the pictures nevertheless differ: here a greenishyellow
shoreline with cattle, there the silhouette of a town with church tower and windmill, and further forward the huge wheel of an overtoom, a rolling bridge.
Technical details such as the rigging of the smalshipe used in inland waters, with leeboards, mast and spritsail, are rendered with care, meeting with great public approval.
In his differentiated design, Ruysdael avoids dramatic scenes and violent natural spectacles. His well-balanced compositions of sea and lake views, expressing a “peaceful clarity”, cannot be classed as marine painting. Together with Jan van Goyen, he developed the new style of landscape painting, without scenes from mythology or history, in favour of rendering light, space and ambience.

OEHRING Erika: Ruysdael Salomon van, Seascape with sailing-boat on the right, Seascape with sailing-boat on the left, in: DUCKE Astrid, HABERSATTER Thomas, OEHRING Erika: Masterworks. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2015, p. 58