#FineArtFriday – “The Breakwater” or “Storm off a Sea Coast” by Jacob van Ruisdael ca. 1670

Artist: Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/1629–1682)

Titles: The Breakwater (current title)

Also known as: Storm off a Sea Coast

Also known as: Ships in Stormy Weather off the Coast

Also known as: A Storm at Sea Off the Dykes of Holland

Genre: marine art

Date: between 1670 and 1672

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimensions: height: 110 cm (43.3 in); width: 160 cm (62.9 in)

Collection: Louvre Museum

What I love about this painting:

Jacob van Ruisdael shows us a wild day down at the port. Several cargo ships are attempting to dock before the full force of the storm descends upon them. He shows us the action, the motion of the clouds flying across the sky above, and the roiling sea below. A shaft of light illuminates the white foam of the churning waves.

Will the ships’ captains and crews manage to get their vessels into the harbor and safely berthed? Will some be dashed against the rocks or tossed up onto the seawall?

Van Ruisdael paints us a story, but we must imagine the ending for ourselves.

About this painting via Wikipedia:

Storm Off a Sea Coast, also known as The Breakwater, is a 1670 oil on canvas painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Jacob van Ruisdael. It is in the collection of the Louvre in Paris.

The painting is called A Storm at Sea Off the Dykes of Holland in the 1911 catalogue raisonné compiled by Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, in which it is catalogue number 961. De Groot described the scene: “On the right is a dyke lined with piles, beyond which is a fisherman’s cottage with a few trees. On the left corner of the dyke, great waves are breaking. Farther back rise the masts of several large vessels, as well as the stern with a Dutch flag.” The painting is called Storm Off a Sea Coast in Slive’s 2001 catalogue raisonné of van Ruisdael, in which it is given catalogue number 653.

In the 19th century, Vincent van Gogh called this painting by van Ruisdael, along with The Bush and Ray of Light, “magnificent”. The Louvre has in French: “L’Estacade ou Gros temps sur une digue de Hollande, dit aussi Une tempête” (the Jetty or Stormy Weather on a Dike in Holland, also known as A Storm). Its inventory number is INV. 1818. Its dimensions are 110 cm x 160 cm. [1]

About the artist, via Wikipedia:

Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael c. 1629 – 10 March 1682) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He is generally considered the pre-eminent landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age, a period of great wealth and cultural achievement when Dutch painting became highly popular.

Prolific and versatile, Ruisdael depicted a wide variety of landscape subjects. From 1646 he painted Dutch countryside scenes of remarkable quality for a young man. After a trip to Germany in 1650, his landscapes took on a more heroic character. In his late work, conducted when he lived and worked in Amsterdam, he added city panoramas and seascapes to his regular repertoire. In these, the sky often took up two-thirds of the canvas. In total he produced more than 150 Scandinavian views featuring waterfalls.

Ruisdael’s only registered pupil was Meindert Hobbema, one of several artists who painted figures in his landscapes. Hobbema’s work has at times been confused with Ruisdael’s. Ruisdael always spelt his name thus: Ruisdael, not Ruysdael.

Ruisdael’s work was in demand in the Dutch Republic during his lifetime. Today it is spread across private and institutional collections around the world; the National Gallery in London, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg hold the largest collections. Ruisdael shaped landscape painting traditions worldwide, from the English Romantics to the Barbizon school in France, and the Hudson River School in the US, and influenced generations of Dutch landscape artists. [2]

Credits and Attributions:

IMAGE: The Breakwater, Wikipedia contributors, “Storm Off a Sea Coast,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Storm_Off_a_Sea_Coast&oldid=1252177345 (accessed May 22, 2025).

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Storm Off a Sea Coast,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Storm_Off_a_Sea_Coast&oldid=1252177345 (accessed May 22, 2025).

[2] Wikipedia contributors, “Jacob van Ruisdael,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jacob_van_Ruisdael&oldid=1290856128 (accessed May 22, 2025).