River landscape.
Jacob van Ruisdael, the undisputed king of Dutch landscape painting, uses delicate strokes to capture a serene river winding through the countryside. On the left bank, a humble structure with a thatched roof nestles into the earth, while the water reflects the sparse trees lining the opposite shore. Although he is best known for his dramatic, moody oil paintings, drawings like this reveal his incredible skill as an observer of nature. Interestingly, while Ruisdael is famous for painting wild Norwegian waterfalls, he likely never left the Netherlands, relying on his imagination and sketches from the German border to create those exotic, mountainous scenes!