De grote beuk

1640s

Trips to Blaricum, Egmond aan Zee and Rhenen

For a landscape painter Ruisdael travelled little: in the 1640s he visited Blaricum, his grandfather's home village, Egmond aan Zee and Rhenen.

1650

Journey to Germany with Nicolaes Berchem

With Nicolaes Berchem, one of the painters who would later add figures to his landscapes, Ruisdael travels to Bentheim and Steinfurt, just across the German border (other accounts date the trip to Westphalia to around 1650). Afterwards his landscapes take on a more heroic character, with larger and more prominent forms.

1653

Almost stops dating his paintings

For unknown reasons Ruisdael almost entirely stops dating his work from 1653: only five works of the 1660s bear a partially obscured year, and none from the 1670s and 1680s. Dating his later pictures therefore rests largely on detective work and speculation.

c. 1657

Moves to Amsterdam

Ruisdael moves to prosperous Amsterdam, which likely offered a bigger market for his work: his fellow Haarlem painter Allart van Everdingen had already moved there and found buyers. He lived there for the rest of his life (other accounts date the move to 1657).

17 June 1657

Baptised at Ankeveen

On 17 June 1657 Ruisdael was baptised at Ankeveen, near Naarden. His uncle Salomon belonged to the Mennonite congregation of Haarlem, as his father probably did too.